Jordi Cruyff on Ajax’s Bold Rebuild: Aiming for Trophies
Ajax have spent the summer acting like Ajax again. Big names, big calls, and a clear message: the club that once set the standard in Europe is tired of looking up at others.
Speaking to ESPN NL, sporting director Jordi Cruyff pulled back the curtain on a demanding transfer window that dragged the Amsterdammers into a new era. Marc-André ter Stegen, Sofyan Amrabat, Julian Brandt – these are not speculative projects. These are established internationals choosing a club that finished last season in repair mode.
Why did they say yes? Cruyff insists the badge still does half the work.
“When you mention the name Ajax, you can see from their eyes that they are very interested,” he said. “We have to get back to the top. Senior players want to compete and perform at their peak right now.”
That urgency framed the entire summer. Ajax did not just collect names; they sold a project to players who are used to winning immediately.
The human pitch – and a stealth coup
Cruyff described a personal approach that leans far more on human connection than on tactical whiteboards. For him, the key conversations are not about heat maps or pressing triggers, but about people.
He singled out the signing of Julian Brandt as his favourite moment of the window. Not because of the headlines, but because of how it was done.
Ajax conducted the talks in total silence. No leaks, no teasing, no drawn-out saga. Then, on a quiet Friday evening, the club dropped the news.
“For once, we as a club showed that we determine when information comes out,” Cruyff said. It was a small but symbolic victory in a market where rumours usually run the show.
He then reached for a line from his legendary father Johan: “If you don’t shoot, you will never score. Sometimes you just have to try.” It summed up the new mood in Amsterdam – calculated, but not timid.
Free agents, loans, and a different kind of risk
Outside the club, the noise has been loud. Critics have warned about the wage bill, about the dangers of stacking the squad with high-profile arrivals, about the long-term cost of turning to experienced names.
Cruyff pushed back hard.
“This is not risky at all,” he insisted. “The biggest risk is paying expensive transfer fees from club to club. Eight of eleven new players arrived for free or on loan.”
That statistic is the cornerstone of his argument. By avoiding heavy transfer fees, Ajax believe they have protected themselves from the kind of financial damage that can follow a failed big-money signing.
Cruyff stressed that sales revenue has comfortably outstripped expenditure, a crucial point in a season without Champions League income. The balance sheet, he argued, remains healthy despite the noise around the scale of the rebuild.
For Ajax, the gamble is not in wages and loans. The real gamble, in Cruyff’s eyes, is standing still.
Accepting the talent drain – and aiming for trophies
One reality has not changed. Ajax still lose bright young talents to Europe’s superclubs. Mika Godts leaving for Paris Saint-Germain is the latest reminder of where Eredivisie clubs sit in the food chain.
Cruyff did not pretend otherwise. He accepted that Dutch football remains a springboard to the very top, and Ajax remain one of its main launchpads.
The question now is what this radically reshaped squad can do in the here and now.
The first major test looms immediately: De Topper against PSV. The Eindhoven side arrive with continuity and stability, the kind of settled structure Ajax are trying to rebuild.
Cruyff knows it. He still refuses to lower the bar.
He expects Ajax to compete for every trophy on offer, even as the squad learns each other’s movements and the new hierarchy beds in.
“We have taken a big step in the right direction,” he concluded. “Our job now is to prove it tangibly on the pitch.”
The talking is over. The next verdict comes in Eindhoven.
