Ajax’s manager Erik ten Hag spoke out on the Dutch team stars’ future. After they lost De Ligt, De Jong, and Ziyech, the club’s manager gave his statement on players as Nicolas Tagliafico, Andre Onana, and Donny Van de Beek.
In an interview with the Dutch newspaper “Voetbal”, the manager said that he expects some players to stay a little bit longer, but the Ajax career may be brief for some others.
“For Onana and Van de Beek, another year at Ajax can certainly be an option. But for Tagliafico, because of his age, it is different. I’m getting ready and testing Lisandro Martinez on the left side”.
On the one hand, Ten Hag’s speech is a relief for fans because of Onana and especially Van De Beek, who was taken for granted. However, it clearly implies that Argentine left-back Nicolas Tagliafico’s Ajax career is near to the end.
Tagliafico’s most likely destination is the Premier League, with both Chelsea and Leicester emerging as favorites in the left-back sign-race.
Chelsea’s left-back plan A is Leicester’s Ben Chilwell, and if the Blues reach an agreement with him, the Foxes would look for Tagliafico as a replacement. On the other hand, if the London team does not succeed in the Ben Chiwell operation, Tagliafico would become their main target.
Tagliafico’s current price tag, according to the Spanish newspaper AS is of about 25 million euros, and it’s surely considered low for a player with Tagliafico’s quality, who was considered one of the main players in the world in the 2018/19 season and maintained the level of performance this season. At the age of 27, the left-back has already played in 99 games for Ajax, having scored 12 goals and given 15 assists.