Ajax have Southampton’s Kamaldeen Sulemana on their target list after a failed move in the summer window.
That’s according to Ajax technical director Alex Kroes, and he revealed this during a chat with Het Parool.
The Eredivisie side had agreed a deal with Southampton to take the winger on a loan deal late in the last window.
On Dutch deadline day, Ajax sold Steven Bergwijn to Al-Ittihad and wanted to replace him with Sulemana. Talks were advanced, but the Amsterdam club were initially not certain whether they submitted the paperwork on time.
Ajax had appealed to FIFA, who then rejected their request and the Ghana international returned to the Premier League side. The forward has been limited to 78 minutes of action from seven league games for the Saints this season.
Kroes is of the belief the Southampton player would have improved under Ajax manager Francesco Farioli had he ended up in the Netherlands.
The director was asked if Ajax are focusing on improving their attack and whether Sulemana is still an option for January.
Responding to that, he said: “Something is possible, but that also depends on outgoing transfers. Sulemana is still on a list of wingers, but others are higher on it.”
“Sulemana has hardly played at Southampton in recent months. He was already at a dead end. It’s difficult to say whether he would not have played at Ajax as well. Farioli is clearly a coach who makes players better. Maybe that would have also happened to Sulemana if the transfer had gone through.”
