attacker Hassane Bande has hit out at target Erik ten Hag’s man-management and blames the Dutchman for his struggles in Amsterdam.
The 23-year-old joined Ajax from Belgian side Mechelen in 2018 for a fee of around £8million, with the Eredivisie giants having been very impressed by his debut campaign in Europe.
Bande had netted 11 goals in 25 appearances in his one and only season in Antwerp, having arrived at Mechelen a year earlier from Salitas football club in his native Burkina Faso.
However, Bande’s progress was severely hampered when he broke his calf bone and ruptured his ankle ligament during his first with Ajax, taking an entire year to recover.
When he returned to fitness he found first-team opportunities extremely limited and was moved to the Jong Ajax reserve team by Ten Hag before being sent out on loan twice – first to Thun in Switzerland then, in February 2021, an 18-month loan to Croatian side Istra 1961.
Bande has impressed in that second loan spell and is still contracted to Ajax until 2023, though he does not feel he will get much of a look in while Ten Hag is in charge and has slammed the way the 52-year-old coach treated him after his return from injury.
Speaking to De Gazet van Antwerpen on Tuesday, Bande said: ‘After my serious injury, I hoped to get back to playing as soon as possible.
‘But after one half in a practice match, Ten Hag threw me out of the dressing room and sent me to the reserves.
‘Mentally, I was left to my own devices. I tried to talk about my situation, but got no answer.
‘According to [now axed director of football] Marc Overmars, it was the manager’s choice that I had to accept.
‘It’s difficult to accept a situation when you never got a real chance. Carel Eiting, who, like me, just came back from a serious injury, was allowed to stay with the first-team.’
Bande also offered some thoughts on why some players in similar situations to himself remained in Ten Hag’s senior squad while he was sent down to the reserves.
He continued: ‘You start to ask yourself whether there might be something more involved. Racism? I never experienced it openly, but I did think about it, yes. I just never got an honest answer to the question of why I didn’t get any more opportunities.’
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