Steven Bergwijn will be available again for Ajax on Saturday evening in the home match against Vitesse. The attacker left the Dutch national team earlier this month for the European Championship qualifiers against Ireland and Gibraltar. “It looks good,” said Van ‘t Schip about his captain.
The employability of Brian Brobbey is questionable, as Van ‘t Schip also indicated. Just like Bergwijn, the striker left the Dutch training camp early with an injury. Josip Sutalo’s participation is also uncertain. The defender did not return fit after Croatia’s last international match against Armenia. Steven Berghuis is available on Saturday.
Van ‘t Schip will definitely miss Branco van den Boomen against Vitesse. After knee surgery, the midfielder will only be able to play minutes again after the winter break. Ahmetcan Kaplan and Silvano Vos play with Jong Ajax against TOP Oss on Friday evening.
Loss of points
With Van ‘t Schip at the helm, replacing the departed Maurice Steijn, Ajax won the first two competition matches with FC Volendam and SC Heerenveen, but just before the international break, the Amsterdam team suffered a loss of points in injury time at Almere City (2-2). In the European context, they lost 2-0 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli has recovered from his shoulder injury and can return to action for Ajax. However, Van ‘t Schip has temporarily opted for 22-year-old German Diant Ramaj, who has been in charge of the Amsterdam team since the end of October.
Ramaj is preferred
“Rulli is basically fit, but has just come back from an injury. I never said that he is the first goalkeeper. Diant is currently the goalkeeper who is doing and has done well. That is the pecking order at the moment,” said Van ‘ t Schip at the press conference for Saturday’s competition match with Vitesse.
The home match against Vitesse, currently bottom of the Eredivisie, starts on Saturday at 9 p.m. The Arnhem team has 8 points, number 12 Ajax has 4 points more, but has played one game less.