“If you’re not already living with your girl, then…”

Jurriën Timber joined the football talk program on Monday evening Rondo. Naturally, the analysts could not avoid talking about the future of the Ajax defender. It is not inconceivable that Timber will leave the team from Amsterdam at the end of this season. In any case, Marco van Basten has free advice for the defender in making the right choice.

“You shouldn’t go to a club where you can ‘join’, but to a club where you are also decisive. That’s what you are now at Ajax”, begins the former striker of AC Milan and Ajax, among others. “You have to give yourself that certainty,” continues Van Basten, who also has another important piece of advice for Timber. “You also have to be stable in your private life. If you don’t live with your girl yet, and you go there (foreign club, ed.) on your own, I would absolutely advise against it,” he says.

“Good advice”, Timber then responds with a grin on his face, after which Van Basten continues with his argument. “You are now 21 and have been playing at Ajax for three years. I think it is really important to lay a foundation at Ajax, in order to be able to go abroad afterwards. Not that you will immediately become a reserve player there,” says the former Ajax player.

Matthew de Ligt
“You see how difficult it is to do it all on your own, because you were among other defenders who were not so good, and you had a very different year than last season. Last year you were really good, but this year you had a lot of problems”, Van Basten continues. Fellow table guest Rafael van der Vaart draws the comparison with Matthijs de Ligt. “He also had a very difficult time at Juventus in the beginning.”

In the latest FCUpdate Podcast, host Stan Timmerman and editor Frank Hoekman talk about the match between Ajax and FC Utrecht, Jorrel Hato’s performance and Edwin van der Sar’s whistle.