Donny van de Beek is a star player for Ajax and has been attracting interest from Europe's biggest cluvs, including Real Madrid. AFP
Donny van de Beek is a star player for Ajax and has been attracting interest from Europe's biggest cluvs, including Real Madrid. AFP
Donny van de Beek is a star player for Ajax and has been attracting interest from Europe's biggest cluvs, including Real Madrid. AFP
Donny van de Beek is a star player for Ajax and has been attracting interest from Europe's biggest cluvs, including Real Madrid. AFP

Football

Ajax star Donny van de Beek 'not taking Spanish classes' amid talk of Real Madrid move

Dutch midfielder insists 'nothing is official' with the Spanish giants

Jon Turner

April 05, 2020

  • English
  • Arabic

Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek appeared to admit there is interest in him from Real Madrid but insisted that "nothing is official".

Van de Beek, 22, has established himself as one of the brightest prospects in European football, helping the club last season to the domestic double of Eredivisie and Dutch Cup, with nine goals and 10 assists in 34 league games and four goals and one assist in five cup games.

He was also central to Ajax's run to the Champions League semi-finals last season, a run that included superb wins over Real Madrid and Juventus, during which Van de Beek scored three goals and created two assists in 12 games.

Like other star members of last season's Ajax team, Van de Beek has been attracting interest from some of Europe's biggest clubs, with reports claiming Real Madrid are prepared to take him to the Bernabeu for €55 million (Dh218m).

However, the Dutch international midfielder has insisted that no decision has been made about his future.

"Playing in the sun is always nice, but no, I haven't started taking Spanish classes,' Van de Beek said in an interview with magazine Helden. "I still haven't said yes to anyone, it's all open. I know what I have here, I'm loved by Ajax and I love Ajax.

"My feeling should be positive at a club, not only that they want me but also that I fit in their system of play. Of course, I also want to know the game time they will give me."

Van de Beek has continued his fine form this season with eight goals and six assists in 23 league games to help Ajax lead the league table, level on points with second-placed AZ Alkmaar. Both clubs are six points clear of Feyenoord in third.

Should Van de Beek leave, he will be following Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie De Jong as young Dutch stars to depart Ajax since last season's success. Defender and captain De Lijt joined Italian champions Juventus last summer, while De Jong moved to La Liga holders Barcelona, both for approximately for €75m, not including add-ons and bonuses.

Meanwhile, Hakim Ziyech - another Ajax star - will join Premier League side Chelsea for €45m at the end of the season.

While an exit seems inevitable at some point in Van de Beek's career, he said he could still remain at Ajax for the foreseeable future.

"Nothing is official [with Real Madrid]," he said. "There is no contract. That is the situation. That has not changed throughout the season."

"I don't want to choose. Both are great clubs, but as I said before, Ajax is also a great club. Therefore, there is nothing to choose from. Everything would be very good."

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'Young girls thinking of big ideas'

Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.

“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”

In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.

“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”

Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.

“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”

rpennington@thenational.ae

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