Injury news Ajax: Heitinga has few options left in midfield
Friday, April 21, 2023 at 2:43 PM
Kian Fitz-Jim will no longer play for Ajax this season, the team from Amsterdam reports via their own club channels. The nineteen-year-old midfielder has sustained an ankle injury and will therefore be out of circulation for at least three months. Fitz-Jim’s injury is a hard blow for trainer John Heitinga, who currently has few tastes to choose from in midfield.
Fitz-Jim suffered the injury to his right ankle during a training session on Wednesday afternoon. The talent has to undergo surgery at the beginning of May, so that Ajax can no longer rely on him this season. Fitz-Jim is expected to watch for three months and in that case also miss part of the preparation for the new season.
For Heitinga, Fitz-Jim’s injury comes at an extremely inconvenient time. Edson Álvarez is suspended this Sunday for the top match against PSV, while the trainer cannot rely on Kenneth Taylor a week later against the team from Eindhoven in the final of the TOTO KNVB Cup due to a suspension. Due to the injury of Mohammed Kudus, Steven Berghuis currently also acts as a right winger.
Fitz-Jim came to four matches in Ajax’s main force this season. He was allowed to fill in briefly in competition twice, at SC Cambuur and NEC. During the cup matches won with FC Den Bosch (0-2) and De Graafschap (0-3), he did start from the kick-off. At Jong Ajax, Fitz-Jim was again a fixed value this season. He scored three goals and six assists in thirty Kitchen Champion Division matches. At the beginning of this calendar year, he was voted Best Talent of the second period.
Across the NOS Fitz-Jim spoke out last Friday about the lack of playing minutes in Ajax 1. “I think that as a person you are never really satisfied with what you have and that you always want more. I am at that point now. I have made my debut and I want more.” Fitz-Jim, for example, is still waiting for his first minutes in his own Johan Cruijff ArenA. Trainer John Heitinga recently opted at home against Fortuna Sittard (4-0) to bring in the debutants Silvano Vos and Mika Godts in the final phase.
