Guido Albers, agent of Kenneth Taylor, gave, this Sunday, an extensive interview to the program Goedemorgen Eredivisie, broadcast by the Dutch television station ESPNin which he confirmed that the player had the opportunity to exchange Ajax for FC Porto in the past summer transfer market.
“Wolverhampton initially offered an amount of more than 30 million euros. That set the standard. It was important for Ajax to reach that amount, and that haunted me throughout the summer”, he began by stating, explaining that the move to the Premier League did not materialize due to the fact that the midfielder did not consider this to be a good destination… unlike what happened when he was approached by the Dragons.
“However, Ajax considered FC Porto as a kind of third world club, so they didn’t want to do business with them, from a financial point of view. They weren’t trustworthy enough, so this transfer ended up falling through at the last minute”, continued the businessman.
“The contracts were practically finalized. FC Porto’s last proposal was 22 million euros, but Ajax didn’t think that was enough”, he added. The 23-year-old player was reportedly excited about the possibility of reuniting with Italian coach Francesco Farioli, but Ajax did not expect to get their money back.”
Ajax accused of lack of “cooperation”
Having lost his transfer to FC Porto, Kenneth Taylor ended up remaining at Ajax, participating in a further 19 matches, after which he added two goals and four assists. However, the ‘farewell’ to the Johan Cruyff Arena would end up happening in the current winter transfer market.
The Dutch international left for Lazio, in exchange for a fee close to 17 million euros, that is, five million euros less than what the historic club based in Amsterdam would have received, if it had given a ‘yes’ to the management led by André Villas-Boas, which led to an outburst from Guido Albers.
“They were being intransigent with a player from their own academy. I had a problem with that. It would have been a good example of why we should cooperate (…). Ajax had already indicated that they would cooperate, in the winter transfer market, and they kept their word”, he concluded.
Born in Alkmaar, Kenneth Taylor completed his entire training with Ajax, having made his debut with the main team on December 12, 2020, when he was just 18 years old and was launched by Erik ten Hag for the defeat against Zwolle, in the 12th round of the Eredivisie, the top tier of football in the Netherlands.
The midfielder would end up representing the club in a total of 184 official games, scoring 36 goals and 28 assists. Now, he is looking to make a name for himself in Italian football, more specifically, at Lazio, after enjoying his first minutes on the field last weekend, in the 0-1 victory over Hellas Verona.
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