Detectives warned Ajax about Quincy Promes before stabbing

The criminal investigation department had its eye on Dutch football player Quincy Promes even before the July 2020 stabbing incident that led to his being charged for attempted murder, according to Het Parool. A detective met with Promes more than once during the 2019-2020 season, sometimes with the general manager of Ajax present as well.

The detective cautioned Promes in their first conversation that some of Promes’s friends had been convicted of crimes and could endanger the football player. However, by the second talk the investigation team had started to believe that Promes himself was involved in criminal activity, namely drug trafficking and participation in a criminal organization.

It was on the basis of these suspicions that authorities tapped Promes’s phone. A phone to his father indicated that the footballer stabbed his cousin in the knee at a family party on July 25, 2020. In the conversation, Promes said he would have killed his cousin if his father had not intervened, according to a report by Nieuwsuur. The football player said publicly that he is innocent.

Although Ajax general manager Edwin van der Sar was involved in the initial meeting between Promes and the detective, he maintained his belief in the football player’s innocence. “He says he didn't do anything. I believe him,” Van Der Sar said at the time. “In the Netherlands you are innocent until proven otherwise. We support him…If he's innocent, he's our player."

Promes has since been transferred to Spartak Moscow, but the Russian club’s payment installments to Ajax will stop immediately if Promes becomes unable to play football due to the charges against him, according to Het Parool. Additionally, if Promes does not show up when the Amsterdam court rules on the stabbing case, he could be extradited from Russia.