Riechedly Bazoer    20    Midfielder    Ajax    Netherlands

Skinny

Riechedly Bazoer is an excellent midfielder with a really exciting future ahead of him. Anyone that has watched him play even 90 minutes will have come away with something to glow about. Our worry – almost before anything else struck us about Riechedly – is that he’s come along at a really bad time to be part of a timeless Dutch side.

The 20-year old is a gracious midfielder in almost everything that he does. Comfortable and elegant in possession, he is a smart player who will eventually become an all-purpose holding midfielder that dictates games without ever venturing too far from his comfort zone.

He broke into the Ajax team with a string of games as a box-to-box midfielder in their side and did really well. His understanding of the game is second-to-none and it was no surprise to see him pop up with a few important goals in that advanced role. That said his excellent reading of the game does mean he is a bit of talker in training, offering his opinion where it may otherwise not be welcomed.

As a midfield lynchpin, sitting in so the players around him can move into attacking positions will be where Bazoer eventually flourishes.

2016 has been…

If Bazoer had been part of week one, the story might have looked very different. 

He kicked off the year in very good form for Ajax and even did an interview at the beginning of February where he talked up his plans to eventually join a “club like Barcelona” in three or four years’ time.

The claims were/are outlandish but given his relative joy in the Eredivisie up to that point, a career path from there that eventually lead to the Barcelona first team didn’t seem all that tricky to imagine.

However since then Bazoer’s involvement in the first team has dropped away and with a new manager in charge, he has struggled to play significant minutes so far this season. On the face of it, it appeared as though Riechedly was struggling to convince Peter Bosz that he deserved to be part of the squad. And in recent weeks confirmation of an internal “disciplinary charge” seemed to confirm all was not right.

Pleasingly a resolution is in the offing and the real reason for Bazoer’s absence has been team preservation from the new coach. In the last few days Bosz has confirmed that Bazoer is likely to leave Ajax in the new year.

He wasn’t playing as Bosz saw no advantage to getting comfortable with Riechedly in his side, only for it to be ruined a few months down the line. He has avoided an upheaval half way through his first season – and though we have sympathy for Bazoer missing out on games, we can’t fault Peter’s thinking.

What’s next?

Anywhere.

Bosz’s admission that Bazoer is available should start a bit of a bidding war for a young player that already has experience with the Dutch senior squad. He is undoubtedly an exciting prospect.

In a perfect world he’d have spent two more years learning the game at the Amsterdam Arena, but he can continue his education elsewhere – so long as he gets consistent and worthwhile minutes. 

C-    Be sensible about your next destination; and get things back on track