René van der Gijp watched Ajax closely on Sunday as they let costly points slip against sc Heerenveen (2-2). The analyst from Dordrecht could not understand after the draw why the Amsterdam side had paid so much money for Marcos Leonardo.
"Was there even one scout who went to watch that Brazilian they brought in from the desert?", Van der Gijp wonders aloud in the KieftJansenEgmondGijp podcast. "I don't think so," the former forward then answers his own question.
Rob Jansen, his fellow panellist, then chips in with a cynical dig at the Ajax scout in question. "He needs to go to Hans Anders. To pick up a pair of glasses."
"I do understand the difficulty," Van der Gijp continues in his analysis of Leonardo's arrival this summer. "You do not just bring a Brazilian to the Netherlands to play here against PEC Zwolle. There are not many who then say: that sounds like a good plan to me."
"So you have to fish in a pond where you are not entirely sure. But 20 million... That is a lot of money!", the astonished Van der Gijp says, referring to the amount Ajax paid for Leonardo, who arrived from Al-Hilal.
Míchel sent Leonardo on midway through the second half against both PEC Zwolle (0-2 win) and Heerenveen. The multimillion signing failed to get on the scoresheet in either match.
At Ajax, the Brazilian forward is competing with Kasper Dolberg and Tolu Arokodare. Míchel stressed at Sunday's press conference that he expects a lot from Leonardo this season.