Donny van de Beek confessed that the notion of playing soccer in the Spanish sun is attractive, but suggested he was in no hurry to seal a move to Real Madrid.
The Ajax midfielder came to prominence along with the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong and Hakim Ziyech throughout the side’s thrilling run to the Champions League semis at 2018-19.
Van de Beek, however, is yet to left Amsterdam, despite reported strong interest from Zinedine Zidane’s Merengue and the midfielder is pleased to weigh up all of his options before committing to a move.
“My feeling has to be useful at a club. How much do they need me?”
“However, I also have to fit in with the system which has been played and of course I also need an overview of playing minutes.
“Playing in the sun is always wonderful. But no, I surely have not started taking Spanish classes yet.
“I haven’t said yes to anybody, everything remains open. I know what I have here, I am loved in Ajax and I love Ajax.”
But his mentor Erik ten Hag emphasised back in February that he keeps the hope of keeping him in the Eredivisie, with Ajax engaged in a ferocious battle to keep their name once the Dutch top flight was halted as a result of coronavirus pandemic.
“I don’t think so [that he’ll leave],” Ajax boss Ten Hag told reporters at a press conference convened before his side’s Europa League defeat at the hands of Getafe.
“He’s had an excellent evolution, and it has attracted global attention. There are players that are in the spotlight and then things change.”
Ten Hag added: “Donny van de Beek has had a stormy development the last months. A great deal of big clubs detected this.
“That’s been the last one and a half years such as this with our players. We have not to consider it, but we’ve been doing these the last one and a half years already.”
