Midfielder admits Southampton’s collapsed deal for £22m man made his transfer happen

Add as preferred source on Google

Such is the nature of the transfer nature, an aborted switch from Southampton can create ripples which flow all the way across the solent and into mainland Europe.

And the club at the other end of a saga which rumbled on from mid-August to the beginning of September may be pretty happy with how things panned out, in hindsight.

Dutch giants Ajax, desperate to ascend back to the Eredivisie summit after a disastrous season, had hoped to sign Southampton’s £22 million winger Kamaldeen Sulemana on loan for the 2024/25.

But as the deal collapsed at quite literally the eleventh hour – it was deemed that the requisite paperwork had not been filed on time – Ajax suddenly found themselves scrambling around for an alternative.

And, after eventually shifting their focus to former fans’ favourite Davy Klaassen, few at the Johan Cruyff Arena will be pining for Sulemana these days.

Southampton’s Kamaldeen Sulemana collapse leads Davy Klaassen back to Ajax

Klaassen, after a brief and forgettable spell at Inter Milan, rejoined his beloved Ajax on a free transfer just days after that Sulemana deal fell through.

And as the latter continues to gather dust on the Southampton bench, the former is blowing away the cobwebs with four goals in four Eredivisie starts during a run of form which emphatically dispels the notion that you should never go back to the club where you had previously enjoyed hero status.

Klaassen has wasted little time pulling on the cape again. Swooping in to rescue Ajax for the umpteenth time as he fired a winner past Willem II on Sunday.

“When I’m abroad, I always see that Amsterdam is actually the most beautiful!” Klaassen tells ESPN, delighted to back amongst home comforts. “I was fit and could join [Ajax] straight away. I think that’s the most important thing.”

Klaassen admits that, had the team sitting third in the Netherlands’ top flight concluded Sulemana’s arrival, he would not have rejoined a club for whom he featured in the Champions League semi-finals back in 2019.

“I do have that feeling, yes. If Sulemana had come, I wouldn’t have been here,” adds Klaassen, who had a spell in England himself with Everton.

“But, in retrospect, that’s perfectly fine.”

Sulemana has a fight on his hands to secure Saints spot

For Sulemana, the sort of role Klaassen performs at Ajax feels like a pipe dream in the red and white of Southampton. After recovering from an injury, the former Nordsjaelland starlet has played just 15 minutes via the odd cameo off the bench under Russell Martin.

Sulemana did feature on Saturday, howeveer, as Southampton ran champions Manchester City close at the Etihad Stadium.

City boss Pep Guardiola lauded the role of Aaron Ramsdale at The Saints pre-match. And the former Arsenal goalkeeper offered a timely reminder of his talents with a fine solo display.

As for Sulemena, Ajax CEO would explain the shift from Sulemana to a then-unattached Klaassen back in September. Ajax intially targeting a winger and ending up with a midfielder. 

“We fixed the paperwork for Sulemana and uploaded everything into the system just before the deadline. But now a discussion has popped up whether we did it before or after the deadline,” Kroes told reporters.

“There are players without a club right now with lots of talent and quality who don’t have a contract.

“We are looking to find someone to spend our money on in case Kamaldeen Sulemana doesn’t arrive.

“I am not satisfied with our transfer window. I did my best but don’t think the financial and sportive balance has been achieved.”