“Manchester United’s timing was so bad” – Ajax chief slams Red Devils over Antony transfer
Ajax sporting director Gerry Hamstra has slammed Manchester United's timing of their Antony transfer chase this summer.
The Red Devils really wounded Ajax this summer, first hiring manager Erik ten Hag and then signing two of their star players, defender Lisandro Martinez and winger Antony, shortly before the deadline.
Ajax is plainly dissatisfied with the outcome, with Hamstra blasting Manchester United for signing Antony so late, leaving them with no time to acquire a replacement.
Overall, Hamstra is dissatisfied with Ajax’s team composition following the departure of top scorer Sebastien Haller to Borussia Dortmund this summer.
Nonetheless, there’s no denying that United inflicted the most harm by raiding them for their manager and two highly key players in Martinez and Antony, with Hamstra plainly angry with how they handled the latter in particular.
“Manchester United’s timing was terrible,” he told the Manchester Evening News.
“The final few days (of the transfer window) got even more frenetic after Ajax had already undergone a massive rebuilding of the squad with the departure of many top-class players.”
“It was extremely terrible to leave such a hole for our incoming manager.” We all believe that we have lost too many first-team players who always start. We had completely different expectations for the summer. We wanted to maintain the group as close as possible in order to do well in the Champions League and continue to be successful.
“That’s what Alfred and I discussed. We were well aware that there might be some difficulties. But no one could have predicted that our players would be purchased for such large sums of money.”
