On Wednesday, Ajax technical director Alex Kroes revealed that they are waiting for FIFA’s verdict on whether they can sign Southampton’s Kamaldeen Sulemana.
The window in the Netherlands closed on Monday and Kroes wasn’t certain whether his side filed the paperwork before or after the deadline.
Ajax have issued a statement, relayed by NOS, that the Southampton player’s loan deal hasn’t been approved. They are “disappointed”, but “understand the decision”.
De Telegraaf claim the failure to sign the 22-year-old is a ‘sledgehammer blow’ for the Dutch club.
Ajax wanted to replace Steven Bergwijn, who was sold to Al-Ittihad on Monday, with the Saints winger. They received a tempting offer of €21m and needed a replacement before sanctioning the Dutchman’s sale.
The Ghana international was identified as the target, and the report says work was done on these two operations on Monday.
Ajax held talks with Al-Ittihad and Southampton for Bergwijn and Sulemana respectively. They wanted to sign the Saints player on a loan deal with an option to buy.
The Eredivisie side concluded the deal for Bergwijn at 10:37pm [local time] and had to rush to complete the Ghanaian’s signing. This was ‘quite a task [for Ajax] with a legal department that has not excelled in speed for years’.
Ajax were convinced the documents were submitted on time and were confident of getting approval, at least by Tuesday morning. That didn’t happen and FIFA have confirmed that Sulemana’s loan transfer hasn’t been approved.
Sulemana has to return to Southampton and make himself available to Russell Martin, at least until the end of this year.
Ajax’s failure to sign the attacker is a ‘bitter pill’ for manager Francesco Farioli because he only has Mika Godts as a left winger in the squad.
