Netherlands international Daley Blind has ended his four-season stay at Manchester United and returned to former club Ajax for a fee potentially rising to €20.5million. The 28-year-old has signed a four-year deal with the club that handed him his professional debut in 2008. He originally left Amsterdam in order to link up with Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford in 2014, but fell out of favour under Jose Mourinho and featured just seven times in the Premier League last season.
He began the 2016–17 Premier League season as first choice center-back alongside Chris Smalling, however lost his place in the team following a return to form of Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo. He worked his way back to the first-team, but featured mostly at left-back, replacing first choice left-back Luke Shaw. He scored his first goal of the season against Sunderland on Boxing Day, charging into the box to connect with a pass from Zlatan Ibrahimović and finishing low into the bottom corner. He started the Europa League final against his former team Ajax, which Manchester United won 2–0