Ajax receive an immediate response from Yves Bissouma (30)

Ajax hope to bring Yves Bissouma to Amsterdam, De Telegraaf reports. According to Mike Verweij, the club face significant competition from Europe’s top five leagues, but appear able to sign the 30-year-old midfielder for one season with an option for a further year.

Bissouma is without a club after his contract at Tottenham Hotspur expired this summer. That means Ajax can still do business with the 46-cap Mali international despite the transfer window having closed.

According to sources close to Bissouma, technical director Jordi Cruijff wants to pull off a coup with his arrival. The midfielder offers a wealth of experience after eight seasons in the Premier League and, before that, two years in Ligue 1.

At 18, Bissouma left Real Bamako in Mali and joined Lille OSC, where he initially played for the second team. After breaking through in France, Brighton & Hove Albion paid almost €17 million for him in 2018, before Tottenham shelled out almost €30 million four years later.

Bissouma went on to make 111 appearances for Spurs before his contract expired. The Malian is known for his running power and strength in the tackle, and he can play as both a number six and a number eight.

This summer, Ajax reshaped their squad significantly with a large number of new players, including Marcos Leonardo, Caio Henrique, Viktor Tsygankov, Thilo Kehrer and Marc-André ter Stegen. Cruijff previously defended that approach to NOS: “You do not win any titles for four seasons in a row. If you then keep doing the same thing, it will not get any better. Then you have to look for solutions and try to be creative.”

That possible arrival fits, according to the report, with Ajax's desire to compete on three fronts with a deep squad. Cruijff wants to challenge in the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie, the Eurojackpot KNVB Cup and the Conference League.