Antony could depart Ajax in €97 million deal; Ziyech may return to Amsterdam
Brazilian football player Antony Matheus dos Santos, better known as Antony, could be on his way out at Ajax. De Telegraaf sports reporter Valentijn Driessen said the Amsterdam football club will likely collect a transfer fee of around 97 million euros for the winger.
That would be the 13th most expensive transfer of all time, and the priciest ever in Dutch football. The current record is a tie at 75 million euros, the price Ajax commanded when it sold Matthijs de Ligt to Juventus and Frenkie de Jong to Barcelona in 2019.
In an appearance on Vandaag Inside, Driessen predicted the deal will be announced this week, possibly on Wednesday. “I’m hearing an amount, something like 97 million euros. I think Ajax would agree to that.”
Antony is in the middle of a five-year deal signed in February 2020. He has scored 18 times in 57 appearances for the Amsterdam team. In that time, the team won the Dutch championship for both the 2020-2021 and the 2021-2022 seasons, also taking home the Dutch Cup in his first year, and taking second place in the Cup tournament last season.
It had been rumored for months that his former manager, Erik Ten Hag, would go after Antony after the Dutch trainer took over at Manchester United. Ajax also sold Lisandro Martinez to the English club earlier this summer for over 57 million euros. The Amsterdam team signed Calvin Bassey to replace Martinez.
To fill the gap left from Antony’s transfer, Ajax is rumored to be looking at its past. Attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech, a fan favorite, may be returning to Amsterdam. He played in 112 matches for Ajax in the four years leading up to his transfer to Chelsea in 2020.
Ziyech could depart Chelsea, where he earns 10 million euros annually, as a rental. Amsterdam would pay half of his salary, and likely an additional rental fee. Italian media personality Fabrizio Romano said Ziyech has met several times with Ajax technical director Klaas-Jan Huntelaar about the move. It would likely be subject to the completion of the Antony deal.
Adding fuel to the rumor mill, the former Amsterdam player’s brother, Abdulla Ziyech, posted a photo of his brother in an Ajax shirt on one of his social media accounts, multiple media outlets reported.
