Ajax Signs Top Talent: Beats Feyenoord to Key Player

Ajax seems to have won the battle for Paulo Da Silva. The 18-year-old striker from NEC was also coveted by Feyenoord, among others, but has given his word to Ajax. Sources around the player and the Amsterdam club report this The Telegraph.

Feyenoord was prepared to pay more salary to the top talent, but according to Mike Verweij, Ajax wins the battle for the youngster partly because Jong Ajax plays in the Kitchen Champion Division and Jong Feyenoord does not. “The sporty individual plan that Ajax has presented to Da Silva appeals to him. In Jong Ajax he must be prepared for the first team,” Verweij wrote on Wednesday morning.

Liverpool and Benfica also showed interest in Da Silva, but the striker wants to stay in the Netherlands for the time being. “The striker with Portuguese roots, who sometimes trained with the first team of NEC, has been an Ajax fan from an early age and can now fulfill his dream of one day playing for that club,” says Verweij.

The agreements between Da Silva and Ajax will be put on paper in the near future. The intention is for him to sign a three-season contract and join Jong Ajax next summer. Da Silva did not yet have a professional contract with NEC, which means that the Nijmegen team only receives the established pool compensation. According to De Telegraaf, this amounts to ‘several tens of thousands of euros’.