Ajax director Marc Overmars has revealed that he hated losing Kamaldeen Sulemana to French side Stade Rennais.
The Dutch champions monitored Sulemana for a while and even made proposals to sign him but the player ultimately chose Stade Rennais.
“At Stade Rennes, there was no competition for him in that area. He thought that was very important and that choice is of course up to the player," said Marc Overmars to Voetbal International.
"We can't blame ourselves, but I certainly hated it for a few days. A lot of time and energy has been invested in the possible arrival of the attacker.
"We have followed him extensively, have been there, he has been with us. But at the same time, we couldn't guarantee playing minutes."
"We gave him [Kamaldeen] the idea that he would play a lot with us, but we do not give a guarantee on playing minutes. An alternative to Sulemana? If David Neres does not go, the need is not immediately present," Overmars added.
"And even then, that good option has to be there. We're not going to force anything. So at the moment, there is nothing concrete as plan B for Sulemana."
Kamaldeen is currently in preseason training with his teammates.