Daley Blind has described Ajax as “home” after he made the switch back to his boyhood club from Manchester United and what better way to follow transfer betting odds than through William Hill where loads of promo codes are on offer.
Blind, who is aged 28, took to social media to speak of his pride at representing Manchester United but as well showed a certain amount of emotion on returning to the Amsterdam giants following what turned out to be a four-year spell at Old Trafford.
Holland ace Blind, who is happiest playing defence (central or left-back) but is certainly versatile enough to play in midfield, posted on his Twitter account after penning a four-year deal with the Sons of the Gods. It is fair to say the writing has been on the wall for some time as far as Blind departing given that he only managed four starts for United last season. Those statistics show that manager Jose Mourinho clearly did not believe in the player in the same way that former boss Louis van Gaal, a fellow Dutchman, had done.
There was a school of thought that perhaps Blind was the ideal player to step up and replace Michael Carrick when he called time on his playing career to take a job as an assistant manager to Mourinho, but clearly that is not going to happen. Ajax have agreed to fork out a transfer fee of around £15million to Manchester United for the services of Blind, and it has been reported that this figure could potentially rise to around £20million depending on appearances.
Left-footed Blind, who made 141 appearances for the Reds, scoring six goals along the way, said: “First of all I want to say how proud I am to be a part of the Manchester United family. To play for the biggest club in the world with such a history meant a lot to me. I had four great years with four trophies!
“I want to thank everyone, the managers, coaches, the medical department, everyone who helped me to settle in so quick at the beginning, of course my teammates and last but definitely not least the fans!
“I want to thank you for all the love and support I received and still get. I will never forget some of the special games and moments, I will miss you the Theatre of Dreams. But now its time to go home.”
Ajax fans weren’t denied seeing Blind in action during his spell at Manchester United, however. But they will quickly want to forget perhaps the most significant of Blind’s appearances for United, which came against Ajax in a UEFA Europa League win in Sweden in 2017.
But now he is on his way home; home to a club where his football journey began at the tender age of eight in the Ajax youth academy. And Ajax have been quick to maintain a theme left over from England’s failed FIFA World Cup bid by releasing their own version of “He’s coming home” on their social media channels while announcing the deal.