Steven Bergwijn has returned to his home country, the Netherlands, to join Ajax after failing to establish himself at Tottenham Hotspur for almost two seasons. His struggle for game time worsened under the tutelage of coach Antonie Conte, hence he had to leave.
Ajax, the reigning Eredivisie champions which have lost a couple of players and even their coach, Erik ten Hag, in the ongoing summer transfer window, are hoping to rebuild ahead of the coming 2022-2023 season.
The Dutch side sees Steven Bergwijn as a player the club could bank on as the club tries to maintain its dominance in Eredivisie even though a good number of the club’s star players including Sébastien Haller, Ryan Gravenberch, and André Onana have already departed the club to more competitive clubs.
So far this summer, Ajax have sold ten of the team’s first-team players which means that they are condemned to re-invest part of the proceeds from the transfer deals into the club’s squad if they want to remain competitive in the coming season.
In light of that, they have already brought in three of their players – Lisandro Magallán, Dominik Kotarski, and Kik Pierie who were on loan last season.
Hence, Steven Bergwijn is Ajax’s major signing this summer. The Dutch club decided to break the club’s transfer record to pay £26 million for his services.
Note that Bergwijn had to leave Tottenham Hotspur back to the Netherlands in an attempt to play more regularly ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Immediately after it became public that he wanted to leave Tottenham Hotspur this summer, Everton football club showed interest but the 24-year-old Dutch left-winger decided to join his home club, Ajax.
Steven Bergwijn signed a contract with Ajax which will keep him at the Dutch club until June 30, 2027. His transfer market value according to transfermarkt.com is just €18 million.
What are the stats of Steven Bergwijn
Steven Bergwijn joined Tottenham Hotspur as a promising young talent from a Dutch club, PSV Eindhoven on January 29, 2020, for a transfer fee worth €30 million.
Since then, the 24-year-old left-winger has played 83 times for the Premier League club in which he scored 8 goals and provided 10 assists in all competitions.
Bergwijn made his international debut with the Netherlands national team on October 13, 2018. Since then he has made 22 appearances in which he scored 6 goals.
After he seal his transfer to Ajax, the head coach of the Dutch club, Alfred Schreuder said: “It is indicative of Steven’s ambition that he chose to make the step to Ajax.
“He is a player with many qualities. He has an enormous drive and is also very goal-oriented.
“Of course, I am happy that we were able to sign him, he adds a new quality to our team.”
On his part, Steven Bergwijn took to his Instagram page to tell Tottenham Hotspur fans bye as he returns to the Netherlands to continue with his club career at Ajax.
He wrote: “Dear Spurs fans, thank you for all the great moments and memories.
“It was an honor to have been part of this beautiful club.”
