Ajax are resigned to losing strongly Inter-linked goalkeeper Andre Onana on a free transfer in the summer, though they are not happy about it.
Speaking to Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport, the Amsterdam-based club’s Sporting Director Edwin van der Sar expressed his view that he would have preferred to have been able to convince the 25-year-old to stay at the club.
Onana is one of Inter’s main targets to replace current goalkeeper Samir Handanovic in the long term, with the Slovenian now 37 and seeing his contract expiring at the end of June 2022.
Like Handanovic, Onana’s deal also runs out next summer, and there are reports that an agreement between he and the Nerazzurri is all but wrapped up to see the Cameroonian join next summer.
The Dutch champions know that there is virtually no chance of a u-turn from the goalkeeper, though they will be sad to part ways with him.
“It’s sad the way the has story ended,” van der Sar reflected. “Through no fault of Ajax, the player will leave us without a negotiation.:
He added that “We regularly sat around a table with him totry and extend his contract and all this led to nothing. This hurts me personally and will also hurt the club.”
Van der Sar also noted that Ajax supported Onana while he was serving a doping ban which ended last month, stating that “We supported him with arbitration, which is normal because he is our employee; but then we had also expected something in return.”
“The negotiation was difficult,” he went on, “he was in Spain for five months because he was not allowed to train in the Netherlands.”
Van der Sar closed by calling Onana “A great guy and a great goalkeeper.”
