Ajax have admitted that recent club record signing Sebastien Haller has been accidently left out of their Europa League squad for the rest of the season.
Haller has made a good start to life in Amsterdam with 2 goals and four assists in his first six games, showing the form West Ham hoped they would benefit from when they broke their own record to sign him in July 2019.
All clubs were instructed to submit their 25-man squads for the knock-out stages by the end of the transfer window, but Haller’s name was a noticeable absence.
Club spokesman Miel Brinkhuis confirmed to Dutch newspaper AD that “He is indeed not on the list, we are trying to find out what went wrong. We have contacted the KNVB and UEFA.”
At first it wasn’t clear who had made the error, with the club, the KNVB (Dutch FA) and UEFA all yet to clarify. However reports are now suggesting the mistake was at Ajax’s end. If correct, they will be unable to amend the error and will have to continue in the competition without him.
Their misery could be compounded after they allowed veteran club legend Klaas-Jan Hunterlaar return to former club Schalke. Despite not being the club’s first choice frontman, he has found the back of the next 7 times in 14 appearances this season showing that class does indeed remain permanent in the 37 year old.
Ajax are set to face Lille away in the first leg of the round of 32 on Feb 18th, with the second leg at the Johan Cruyff Arena the following week.