René van der Gijp cannot understand Ajax's handling of summer signing Marcos Leonardo. The football pundit believes the Brazilian forward is still several kilos overweight.
Last summer, Ajax paid €20 million for Leonardo. The 23-year-old striker has scored just once so far and has made only substitute appearances in the Vriendenloterij Eredivisie. Against NEC (1-1), Míchel again brought him on in the closing stages.
Van der Gijp believes Ajax should have stepped in when it became clear Leonardo had arrived in Amsterdam overweight. "I get the impression that this Brazilian arrived five kilos overweight. You can measure that by his body-fat percentage," he says on KieftJansenEgmondGijp.
"As a coach, I'd say: we'll set aside five weeks to get those five kilos off. Until you've lost those five kilos, you won't train with the squad either. Train on your own with a separate coach. Just get fit," says Van der Gijp, setting out how he would handle Leonardo.
Repeatedly bringing Leonardo on as a substitute is counterproductive, according to the pundit from Dordrecht. "I wouldn't bring him on, then. It's a bad start for the lad," Van der Gijp tells the Spanish Ajax coach.
Van der Gijp then compares Leonardo with Raheem Sterling, who played for Feyenoord last season. "The same thing happened with Raheem Sterling. Anyone can get fit. The right-back at VVV-Venlo and the left-back at NEC can do it too. They're fit. If you're not fit, you won't get past them, however frustrating that is. If Vinícius Júnior is six kilos overweight, he won't get past ADO's right-back."
Away from the pitch, Van der Gijp wonders what Leonardo does and what he eats. "I don't know whether he has a girlfriend or a wife. Imagine he lives alone. Then he goes to little Brazilian places in Amsterdam for food. We once ate at a Brazilian restaurant in Scheveningen. That's 500 grams of meat and 400 grams of fat. And that's just the starter."