Edwin van der Sar gives likely Matthijs de Ligt destinations

Ajax CEO Edwin van der Sar has said that centre-back and captain Matthijs de Ligt will most likely be playing in either England or Spain in the near future.

The Dutch defender has played an instrumental role in his side's progression to the Champions League semi-finals where they were eliminated from the tournament by Tottenham on Wednesday. De Ligt's teammate Frenkie de Jong has already agreed to join Barcelona this summer and van der Sar indicated that de Ligt could follow the midfielder through the departure gates in Amsterdam.

"Frenkie de Jong is already a Barcelona footballer, while De Ligt I think will go to England or Spain," van der Sar told Sky in Italy before the Spurs defeat. "I think the players also want to win something. Perhaps for the two of them it can be the last chance to win something special with our club. "Matthijs has been here for 12 years, we hope it will be a great ending for him."

After a run to the semi-finals that included knockout stage wins over both Real Madrid and Juventus, there is a fear that Ajax could have their team decimated like Monaco did under Leonardo Jardim after their run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2017. Van der Sar has previously acknowledged that part of the model at Ajax is to sell on their best players and replace them with younger players from the club's youth academy but the former Manchester United goalkeeper does admit that he will not look for a complete exodus this summer.

"We hope not to sell so many players, otherwise as an alternative we have players from our youth sector to replace those who leave. But we hope to sell only two or three."