On loan from Sunderland, Ivorian winger Simon Adingra is still unavailable at Ajax and absent from Ivory Coast’s squad for the two November matches. Short of wingers, the Amsterdam club is considering signing a left winger in January.
In Amsterdam, the Simon Adingra file remains open. Arriving in early September from Sunderland on a loan deal with an option to buy worth around €16 million, the Ivorian winger has so far made only a brief substitute appearance in the Eredivisie. Physical problems explain this stop-start beginning, according to All Football and FootballTransfers.
Coach Míchel Sánchez was unable to give a precise timetable for his return. According to FootballTransfers, Adingra is not due to join collective training until after the November international break. His return date to competitive action is not known.
A left winger wanted in January
Adingra’s unavailability is weighing on an already under-resourced area. Steven Berghuis, Oscar Gloukh and Abdellah Ouazane are currently the only players available on the flanks, with three players missing in that position, according to FootballTransfers and Soccernews.nl.
Technical director Jordi Cruijff has indicated that Ajax is considering signing a left winger in the winter transfer window, according to FootballTransfers. It is an option under consideration, not yet a decision: no names have been mentioned, and the club, deprived of Champions League revenue this season, must contend with limited finances.
Time is tightening: Adingra is not due back before the break, and the January transfer window is approaching. Until then, Míchel Sánchez must make do with the wingers available.
Second place to defend
On the pitch, Ajax are keeping up the pace. The club sits second in the Eredivisie with 24 points from 11 matches, one point behind leaders Feyenoord, according to FootballTransfers.
The Adingra case goes beyond the club. The winger is absent from Hervé Renard’s Ivory Coast squad for the two meetings with Gambia, like Sébastien Haller, Wilfried Singo, Evann Guessand and Oumar Diakité, CSPORTS INFOS reports. The Elephants host Gambia in Bouaké on 12 November, before the return match in Bakau on 17 November.
Nothing in the file, however, links this absence to his injury.