On deadline day, Sunderland improved their attack by signing Brian Brobbey and Bertrand Traoré from Ajax on permanent transfers.
Last week, Ajax technical director Alex Kroes said the Black Cats turned up for the 23-year-old striker on the final day of the window. Later that day, they approached the Eredivisie side for the former Aston Villa man, who left for Sunderland a year after joining Ajax on a free transfer.
Voetbal International editor-in-chief Freek Jansen has discussed the double sale carried out by the Dutch club for Voetbalpraat and Voetbal Zone have relayed his comments.
Ajax collected €3m for Traoré and €20m plus bonuses for the Netherlands international, and the journalist insists these two operations have been financially beneficial.
“The last day of the window went fantastically for Ajax, financially speaking. €20m for Brian Brobbey, and then there was Bertrand Traoré,” he said.
“Last summer went very well for Ajax, financially speaking. Sportingly is a different story, but financially they were able to make progress. And very important, too. Because Alex Kroes said in that interview he gave, his first sentence was barely noticed, that from the next transfer window onward, more focus can be placed on the sporting aspect.”
The journalist then went on to explain how Sunderland decided to quickly make advances for 30-year-old Burkina Faso international when they were negotiations with Ajax for the Dutchman.
He indicates Régis Le Bris’ side would have checked Traoré’s statistics online and quickly proceeded with the operation to sign Traoré. In other words, Jansen suggests Sunderland didn’t do their homework thoroughly before deciding to bet on him.
“They were working on Brobbey, which was already a race against the clock. Full throttle, because at 8pm [Dutch time]. that evening the market closed in England,” Jansen explained.
“But Sunderland was also looking for a number 10 and a winger. And Ajax said that Traoré was available. And that happened very quickly. They quickly called Traoré and his agent.
“Sunderland probably checked Transfermarkt and saw that Traoré had scored against PSV last year. They thought: gotcha and that was quickly finalised too. So, in one day, €20m plus €5m for Brobbey and €3m for Traoré. And the salaries.”
