Hans Kraay junior has voiced his frustration with Marcos Leonardo and Viktor Tsygankov in his column for Voetbal International . Ajax's two signings have looked well short of fit in their first spell in Amsterdam.
Leonardo, who joined from Al Hilal for twenty million euros, has faced criticism for weeks. The Brazilian striker is missing plenty of chances and, for now, appears to have lost the battle for a starting place to Tolu Arokodare.
Tsygankov arrived from Girona for four million euros in the closing days of the transfer window and made his Ajax debut last Saturday. He played for about half an hour against PSV.
That debut was no success. Tsygankov visibly struggled with the high tempo in the top clash and looked particularly poor for Esmir Bajraktarevic's decisive 1-3. The Ukrainian first lost the ball clumsily and then made quite a few defensive mistakes as well.
Watching on, Kraay junior could hardly believe it and reached a painful conclusion for Tsygankov. “The 34-year-young Steven Berghuis currently looks quite a bit fitter than Viktor Tsygankov.”
Kraay then fumes: “What is it, really, that some players, such as Marcos Leonardo and Tsygankov, dare to turn up at their new club unfit?”, “Truly unbelievable.”
He did, however, speak positively about signings Julian Brandt and Tolu. “Jordi Cruyff has opened his wallet wide and against PSV I saw a big, fine and clinical striker, Tolu, whom the Ajax supporters have already firmly taken to their hearts. Julian Brandt, I am startled every single time that he is playing on Dutch pitches.”