Aston Villa star Leon Bailey could have joined Thursday’s European opponents Ajax on three separate occasions, including in 2022, at least according to his father.
Craig Butler has been speaking to Voetbal International about his son and how he may have ended up at Ajax in the past, as Aston Villa gear up to take them on the in the Europa League.
Bailey’s first move to Europe was with KRC Genk in August 2015, joining them in a €1.4m deal before moving to Bayer Leverkusen in 2017 for €16.7m.
He established himself as a star with the German side and eventually ended up in the Premier League, joining Aston Villa in a €32m move in August 2021.
He’ll be looking to add to that tally when Aston Villa take on Ajax later this week, a side the forward could have been playing for if things had turned out differently.
“Bailey was indeed already in the picture at Ajax, but also at Genk, to whom I eventually sold him. Ajax did want him, but not according to the agreements that were in place,” he said.
“We were always very close, but the final push from Ajax was missing. If Leon had signed with Ajax, he would probably have been sold for a lot more money, but money isn’t everything.
“Of course, Ajax remains a club that we have a lot of respect for, the contact is still there. I regularly speak with Kelvin de Lang. We still love Ajax very much.”
