Ajax chief executive Edwin van der Sar was asked about the delay in Justin Kluivert’s contract extension. He picked a familiar target to blame: Mino Raiola.
“I think his agent is pushing him towards the exit,” he said on Ziggo Sport ’s talkshow ‘Rondo’. “We’ve had talks with Kluivert about extending his contract. It’s often not the player, because he is a real Ajax boy. We would really like to keep him, but you have to deal with agents.”
A dubious figure, Raiola is known for mixing up debate amongst players and clubs to remove either a lucrative contract or a major move for his clients, pocketing a robust entirety en route. With the weight on Ajax to keep one of the brightest prospects of a skilled gathering, the CEO saw the perfect straw man to fault for the hold up and in the meantime recommend the issue was extremely down to a solitary factor: cash.