Newcomer Daley Blind is to strengthen Bayern’s defence. Image: dpa / Angelika Warmuth
Bundesliga
When FC Bayern meet RB Leipzig in the away game on Friday evening, winter new signing Daley Blind will probably take a seat on the bench for the time being.
The Munich team brought in the versatile defender and midfielder after Lucas Hernández ruptured his cruciate ligament, primarily as a reinforcement for central defence. He should also give Alphonso Davies the necessary breaks on the left side of defence.
The biggest coup: Blind joined the record champions for free. Because the contract with his long-standing youth club Ajax Amsterdam was terminated prematurely.
In his farewell message to Ajax fans on his Instagram channel, he spoke of “circumstances” that led to his departure, the Dutchman now unpacks in detail about his change and makes serious accusations against his former club.
Blindly angry at Ajax sporting director Huntelaar
At Ajax Amsterdam, the name Blind has stood for identification and success for decades. His father Danny played for Ajax in the 80s and 90s and Daley himself became a part of the famous Ajax football school in 2005. In addition to a loan to FC Groningen (2010) and four years at Manchester United (2014-2018), Blind only played for Ajax and won seven championship titles, among other things.
His departure in winter was all the more surprising. As Blind now explains, this was mainly due to his relationship with coach Alfred Schreuder. In October, he demoted him “from player number 1 in his position” to “player number 4”, as he told the Dutch newspaper “AD”.
And then he also attacked sports director Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
“Huntelaar wants to create a fight between me and the fans. That’s what I wrote to him. It’s also so typical that Ajax are the first to comment on the situation, even though there was a contractual agreement. I’m not talking about Ajax and them not about me.”
The former Schalke striker and today’s Ajax sports director told “AD” at the beginning of the week that that for Blind “it was a slap in the face to be booed by their own fans”. And the fact that he was no longer considered by the coach would have been the last straw, which made him want to leave.
Blind unpacks about a battle of words with coach Schreuder
To this day, he still cannot explain why he was sorted out by former Hoffenheim coach Schreuder at Ajax last fall.
He describes the situation that Schreuder asked the team after a bad half-time why the team’s pressing was so bad. According to his stories, Blind got up and demanded clear instructions from the coach.
Daley Blind (left) and Ajax coach Alfred Schreuder at a press conference Image: www.imago-images.de / imago images
“Shut up! Shut up and sit down,” Schreuder is said to have replied. Blind himself asked physiotherapists and fellow players afterwards whether his approach was too bold, but received support from all sides.
In the weeks that followed, however, he was completely ignored by Schreuder and was not even substituted on when players in his position were injured.
Bayern star Blind criticized: “It’s something personal”
When he asked the Ajax coach in an interview why he wasn’t playing, he insisted it was nothing personal.
Schreuder then publicly emphasized that before the season he spoke to Blind about a changed role that would see him sitting on the bench more often. But Blind disagrees. “That’s a lie,” he told AD. The coach would have told him much more that he was an important player for different positions.
“I don’t doubt it was personal, I’m 100 percent sure,” Blind said. All players nominated for the World Cup in Qatar would have received a message except him.
He was also disappointed that neither Schreuder nor one of the Ajax bosses came to say goodbye to the club premises. Although everyone would have known because the date had been agreed with the club.
In an interview with “De Telegraaf”, the coach was self-critical and said that he should have said goodbye to Blind in person. However, he was in a meeting and did not know that Blind would be there.
At the same time, he also distributed a tip to the World Cup participants. “I no longer need players in training who no longer want to play at Ajax or who are looking for a change. The whole focus has to be on Ajax.”
Blind would only have wished that the Ajax bosses would urge him to talk to Schreuder when he left. “But nobody from Ajax tried anything. Rather, they make it seem like I was the one who wanted to leave.”
In his weekly column, fan researcher Harald Lange writes exclusively on watson about the things that are currently moving football in Germany.
There are only a few football songs that have made it into the German charts. The World Cup song by La Rocca with the meaningful title “There is only one Rudi Völler” made it to number 26 in 2002. The simple lyrics were sung loudly and evocatively at international matches to the tune of Guantanamera in every football stadium in the country 20 years ago. Combined with the long-drawn-out “Ruuuuuuuuudi” calls, the fans chose their favorite and thus created an unmistakable identification figure for the German national football team.
