Jordi Cruyff remains confident in Marcos Leonardo. Ajax's technical director expects the Brazilian forward to show soon why the club paid €20 million for him last summer.
At 23, Leonardo has scored just twice for Ajax so far. He remains behind rival Tolu Arokodare in the pecking order and spends almost every week on the bench, though coach Míchel Sánchez does bring him on as a substitute.
'It's a matter of time,' Cruyff said on Monday on Rondo on Ziggo Sport of Ajax's expensive signing. 'He's a different type of striker. Not a player you can just put crosses in for. The way he finds space is different. And he needs players who understand him.'
Cruyff refused to write Leonardo off as an Ajax striker: 'But it's a matter of time. Once he scores a goal, he'll start to flourish.'
For Cruyff, Leonardo needs time to adjust to football in the Netherlands. 'There's also a lot of one-on-one play here, which isn't the case in most leagues. It's much more physically demanding. He needs to get used to that.'
Leonardo's ability to find space remains a positive for the Ajax director. 'Someone can only miss chances or score if they're in the right place. For me, it's simply a matter of time. When you watch him in training, everything goes in. So you know: it's going to happen.'
Whether Leonardo starts for Ajax on Thursday remains to be seen. Míchel's side face FC Midtjylland in the Conference League group stage. They recently beat Atalanta 2-0, following a 2-1 defeat away to Hajduk Split.