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Ajax under coach Míchel Sánchez are still a work in progress, Theo Janssen said on Friday on De Oranjezomer. Their away game against FC Sion in Conference League qualifying was the perfect example.
Ajax did not play especially convincing football, but still ran out 2-4 winners. One of the few positives was the first goal from Marcos Leonardo, though he otherwise failed to make much of an impression.
"Do they still have the receipt for Leonardo?" presenter Thomas van Groningen wonders aloud. "I hope so," Janssen replies. "Because if you are bought for 19 million and you come in with a body fat percentage of 20 per cent..."
Janssen then watches Leonardo's huge miss in the fifth minute of Sion - Ajax. "That is obviously not good. It also makes you a bit less mobile," he says. "This is not something everyone can do," the analyst adds mockingly about the Brazilian striker.
"These are ridiculous balls, of course. You simply have to finish those. He is a boy who has come in for a lot of criticism. Because in the matches in which he has come on, he misses a lot of chances. And he is not fit. That is obviously a bad signal to the rest of the players," is the harsh conclusion.
Next week's return at the Johan Cruijff ArenA should not bring too many more problems for Ajax, according to Janssen. "Ajax have enough quality. Enough players they can still bring on, a good youth academy, interesting players they have also brought in... It just needs time."
Brandt is the example he points to. "This is a fantastic player, really a very good player. He is a player from the very highest category and we should be very happy that he is playing in the Netherlands. According to Rafael van der Vaart he is not, but I think we are really going to enjoy him here this year."