I Hope He’ll Show – Technical Director Explains Loaning Liverpool Star | OneFootball

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Ajax’s technical director Alex Kroes is of the view that Liverpool talent James McConnell offers something to the side which the Dutch giants lack.

The 20-year-old midfielder is a product of Liverpool’s academy system and has featured 13 times for the senior team so far in his career.

This summer McConnell was gathering interest from Derby County, West Bromwich Albion and Hull City, as they were interested in taking him on loan, but Liverpool had other plans for him.

The Reds agreed a new five-year deal with McConnell and sent him out on loan to Ajax, who are managed by former Liverpool assistant manager John Heitinga.

Ajax previously stressed that they wanted to sign an experienced, physically strong midfielder, with Edson Alvarez on their radar, but the signing of inexperienced McConnell raised questions among a section of their fans and former players, with the Amsterdam outfit sitting sixth in the league table.

However, Kroes insists that McConnell bring in something which Ajax lack and he pointed out that they will need skillsets of different types of players in different competitions.

The Dutch technical director admitted that McConnell is not an experienced player with leadership qualities, but hopes that he will be able to show why they brought him in.

“James adds something to the squad that we do not have right now but James also does not panic when he does not play a match”, Kroes told Ajax’s media.

“He is not in the way of [Jorthy] Mokio or another player.

“You will need different types of players, in the different competitions and he adds to that.

“But is he the experienced leader? No, I cannot put it another way but I hope James will show why we added him to the team.”

McConnell joined Ajax last week and he was not part of the matchday squad for their weekend’s game against Volendam.

Now with the international break ongoing, he will be hoping to settle into the new environment and hit the ground running in the training ground to be ready for the next game against PEC Zwolle on 13th September.