It has been an eventful past year for Ajax.
From February to April 2019, the Amsterdam club embarked on an astonishing underdog run to the Champions League semifinals. They knocked out Real Madrid and Juventus along the way and were merely seconds away from a spot in the final before a stoppage-time Lucas Moura goal put Tottenham Hotspur in the final at Ajax's expense.
This unexpected success increased the level of interest by several major clubs in Ajax's players, so it was no surprise when their two best players in Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt left the Dutch capital for Barcelona and Juve respectively. However, although the situation appeared somewhat grim for Ajax after these two departures, they were handed an unexpected lifeline by being drawn into a Champions League group which one would probably have expected them to top. They were to play against a Valencia team which would soon fire head coach Marcelino for seemingly no reason at all, a Chelsea team in complete disarray, and a Lille team to whom Ajax were clearly superior.
Yet, as this post is being written, Ajax have just been knocked out of the Champions League at the first hurdle. A 1-0 loss to Valencia eliminated the reigning Eredivisie champions from the tournament, with Rodrigo scoring the only goal of the match.
Considering what they were able to achieve during last season's campaign, Ajax's performance in this season's Champions League can be deemed an underachievement, especially when one considers the fact that they were drawn into one of the tournament's easiest groups. This is exacerbated by the relative star power of their team; it would not be a stretch to suggest that among the 10 best players in Group H, six or seven of them play for Ajax. Dušan Tadić, Hakim Ziyech, André Onana, Nicolás Tagliafico, Donny van de Beek, Daley Blind, and arguably Quincy Promes are on paper better than any of Valencia's or Lille's players as well as all of Chelsea's apart from N'Golo Kanté, Christian Pulisic, and Tammy Abraham. Thus, while regression to the mean may have been a factor to be considered, it does not wholly explain their failure to qualify for the round of 16.
During the past off-season, Ajax should certainly have done more with the enormous sums of money which they received from the sales of de Jong and de Ligt. Both were signed by their new clubs for €75 million each. Despite this infusion of revenue, the most expensive signing made by Ajax during the 2019 off-season was that of Promes from Sevilla, who was signed for €15.7 million.
While it is certainly true that Ajax is today a far cry from the powerhouse it once was, the club showed a lack of ambition in the transfer market. The €150 million received by the club from the two major sales should have been put to use. It is understandable that not many top players would want to play in a major league such as the Eredivisie; however, that doesn't excuse the fact that Ajax did not even try to search for ample replacements for their two departed young stars. They could easily have gone after a player such as Leon Goretzka, Sergej Milinković-Savić, or Fabián Ruiz to replace de Jong. De Ligt, meanwhile, could have been succeeded by a centre-back such as Milan Škriniar, Alessio Romagnoli, or Ibrahima Konaté. Instead, Ajax chose to mostly stand pat, and paid for this decision through their early Champions League exit.
However, all is not yet lost at the Johan Cruyff Arena. The January transfer window is approaching, and this represents another opportunity for Ajax to use the money which they now have in order to bring in reinforcements and reload for next season's Champions League campaign; much like Paris Saint-Germain, the relative weakness of their domestic league means that Ajax are far too good to merely target a domestic league title.
Several teams in the past have made one deep Champions League run only to never again do anything significant on Europe's biggest stage with the same core group of players. It is possible for Ajax to avoid such a fate; however, it is likely that they will only be able to do so through heavy but intelligent expenditures on high-quality players.
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