Returning to the Eredivisie by signing for Ajax in the summer, Steven Bergwijn left his Tottenham troubles behind.
The Dutchman wasn’t a first-choice under Antonio Conte at Spurs, and despite an exit in January coming close to fruition, the winger had to wait until July to get his desired transfer.
Ajax spent €31m or so to repatriate the forward, helping Tottenham somehow make a profit in the process, and it all started great for Bergwijn.
The 25-year-old scored six goals in his first five Eredivisie games, but that has changed a lot since then, as he has found the back of the net just twice in the following nine.
The latest came in a 3-3 draw against FC Emmen that left the vast majority of pundits perplexed, as Ajax threw away a 3-1 lead.
This led to Bergwijn venting his frustration, as he stated after the game: “No idea what we were doing. I also don’t feel like we knew what to do, it’s just outrageous.”
This led journalist Willem Vissers to have a pop at the player, writing in his Volkskrant column, relayed by Soccer News.
He wrote: ‘After the monstrosity, at least as far as Ajax is concern, he makes a frugal, aggrieved face when he shoots sentences like bullets. No matter how careful he was on the artificial grass, his leg was stretched verbally. He commits collective character assassination. He smashes the windows of his own house and runs away’.
That last bit is because this was Ajax’s final game before Bergwijn heads off to the World Cup with the Netherlands, leaving Ajax to reflect on what to do next.
As Vissers continues: ‘He could have just talked about himself. The most expensive purchase in the history of Ajax has a fairly free role on the wings, to play football wonderfully. He can dribble, shoot, ping and score, although he has shown that far too little lately. Shifting is much easier than looking in the mirror’.
During his spell at Tottenham, Bergwijn scored eight goals and assisted another 10 in 83 appearances, while he has 11 goals and three assists in 21 appearances for Ajax since signing for them.
