Van de Beek: Real Madrid and Juventus warned no discounts for Ajax star
"Van de Beek will leave, but people can forget about 50 percent off", said Ajax director Edwin van der Sar of the Juventus and Real Madrid target.
Donny van de Beek will leave Ajax this summer, according to the Dutch club's general director Edwin van der Sar, but any suitors such as Real Madrid and Juventus expecting a bargain for the Netherlands international due to an expected slump in transfer fees following the global coronavirus crisis are going to be disappointed.
"Last summer people were saying we were going to lose seven or eight players but in the end we only lost two key squad members," Van de Sar said. "The big clubs like Bayern Munich have said the parameters of the transfer market are going to drop over the next few windows but it easy for them to say that as they are the buyers. Of course, transfers of €150-200 million will disappear but I believe there are players at Ajax who will still command big fees. They are educated, they have experience of playing and winning in Europe.
Van de Beek will not go cheap
"Last year we reached verbal agreements with André Onana, Nicolás Tagliafico and Van de Beek so that they would stay for another season. We promised them that then we would help them to make the next step in their careers. Nothing has changed in that respect but there will be no 50 percent discounts. Any interested clubs can forget about sale prices," Van der Sar added.
Van de Beek, 23, was a key member of the Ajax side that reached the Champions League semi-finals last season and has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid or Juventus, where his former teammate Matthijs de Ligt moved last summer.