Marcos Leonardo drew the wrath of a large section of the Ajax support inside ten minutes on Thursday night. The striker was handed two excellent chances against FC Sion to put the Amsterdam club ahead, but failed to make proper contact with the ball on both occasions.
Ajax carved out the first huge chance as early as the sixth minute. After some dithering in the FC Sion defence, Julian Brandt put the ball on a plate for Leonardo, but the forward swung completely over it and passed up a golden opportunity for 0-1.
Three minutes later, Leonardo got it wrong again. Ajax put together another good attack, but before the striker could strike the ball cleanly he slipped, so his second attempt posed hardly any danger either. The same thing had already happened to Leonardo several times in previous matches for Ajax.
That immediately sparked a flood of critical reactions on, for example, Ajax Showtime. "Up to now, as far as Leonardo is concerned, I was in the ‘give him time’ camp, but that gets harder with every action," one supporter wrote, while another concluded: "He is turning into a gigantic flop."
Elsewhere, fans are also starting to openly doubt Leonardo’s quality. "I think we got the wrong Leonardo," one mocked, while another visitor responded: "What kind of striker have we signed? This simply cannot be right, can it?" Yet another kept it short: "Leonardo is officially a flop."
Part of the criticism stems from the hefty sum Ajax paid for Leonardo this summer. The Amsterdam club signed the 23-year-old Brazilian from Saudi side Al-Hilal in July for a transfer fee of just under €20 million and tied him down to a five-year deal. "Still got the receipt for Leo?" one supporter said cynically, while another wondered: "Does he even have studs under his boots?"
Now some supporters are drawing comparisons with previous disappointing Ajax signings. "Leonardo is our Iván Gabrich ’26," one fan wrote, after which another immediately agreed: "Exactly what I was thinking of: Gabrich." The former Argentine striker, who arrived in Amsterdam in 1996 and failed to score in ten league matches, is known as one of the biggest flops in Ajax’s club history.
One more cynical remark followed: "Okay, now I really am starting to wonder whether Jordi picked that Leonardo up from a korfball court."