Mo Ihattaren could make his debut for Young Ajax tonight against NAC Breda. The 20-year-old former top talent is fit and has been included in the match selection for the first time by coach John Heitinga.
Since his arrival in Amsterdam, it has remained anxiously quiet around the midfielder. According to coach Erik ten Hag, Ihattaren was not fit enough yet. He’s been working hard on that for the past three months.
“He is not yet physically in such a position that he can already join the group,” said trainer Erik ten Hag about his fitness three weeks ago. “If you can’t run, then everything stops. By that I mean running at Eredivisie or Champions League level. Then you are asked that you can make meters at high speed and intensity. If you can’t, everything stops. It depends on him how fast that goes.”
342 days
The last time Ihattaren played a match was 342 days ago. On April 24 last year, he participated for ten minutes in the match between PSV and FC Groningen. After he clashed with PSV coach Roger Schmidt, the talent was sold to Juventus, who immediately rented him out to Sampdoria. In Italy it never became a happy marriage, so Ajax picked him up.
Ajax rents Ihattaren from Juventus until the end of the year with an option to buy.