Ajax mistakenly omit Sebastien Haller from Europa League squad
By Tom Gott
Ajax broke their transfer record and parted with a cool £20.5m to sign striker Sebastien Haller from West Ham United in January, only to mistakenly leave him out of their Europa League squad three weeks later.
Haller has got off to a decent start at the Johan Cruyff Arena by bagging two goals and four assists in his first six Eredivisie games, helping Ajax open up a seven-point lead at the top of the table.
You'd have thought that Ajax would make sure Haller was part of their Europa League squad for the rest of the season, but somehow, that hasn't happened.
UEFA released a list of all the changes made to Europa League squads, and for Ajax, the the only new face in the team in Sevilla loanee Ousama Idrissi, despite the fact that two spots were freed up with the departures of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Victor Jensen.
In a statement to AD, Ajax spokesperson Miel Brinkhuis said: “He is indeed not on the list, we are trying to find out what went wrong. We have contacted the KNVB and UEFA."
One job, Ajax. You had one job.
Ajax have been trying to sort this issue out, but according to NOS, there has been no technical error. The Dutch side simply forgot to put Haller's name on the list.
UEFA asks teams to submit their squads to the FA in their respective countries, who verify each player is eligible to play before sending the lists back to the clubs. Teams then forward the list on to UEFA, but even with that second chance to correct this, Ajax still flopped it.
It means Haller will not be able to play in the Europa League this season, beginning with the first leg of the knockout tie against Lille on February 18.
It's every Football Manager player's nightmare, and things are going from bad to worse for Ajax as FM wonderkid Brian Brobbey has confirmed he will walk away from the club at the end of the season.
The 19-year-old has made six appearances for the Ajax first team, scoring two goals and adding another assist, and he was the player trusted to start December's crucial Champions League tie with Atalanta.
"We think it is too bad that he’s leaving and have done everything to keep him at Ajax longer," director Marc Overmars told the club's official website. "He has chosen to play football elsewhere after the summer. It’s difficult for me to accept, but it's his decision. Brian is still under contract with us for a few months, if we need him the trainers will call on him."
A rough few days for Ajax.