Ajax Race Against Time to Register Arokodare

Ajax have the striker they wanted. Now they just need the paperwork to catch up.

On Wednesday afternoon, the club formally applied for Tolu Arokodare’s work permit, according to De Telegraaf. The clock immediately started ticking. Journalist Mike Verweij called it “a race against the clock”, and that is no exaggeration.

Ajax are already halfway through the first hurdle in Europe. A 1-4 away win over FK Vojvodina has one and a half feet in the next round of the Conference League qualifier. On Thursday, at the Johan Cruijff ArenA, they can finish the job. Only then, though, does the real administrative sprint begin.

Once the tie is wrapped up, Ajax must submit a fresh squad list to UEFA for the next qualifier, against Shelbourne or Nomme Kalju. The deadline: Wednesday evening, 5 August. The priority: make sure Arokodare’s name is on that list.

Jordi Cruyff will spend the coming days watching more emails than matches. If the work permit drops in time, Ajax intend to register the Nigerian immediately for the next European round. The plan is clear. The margin for error is not.

Domestic Campaign

And Europe is only half the story.

Coach Míchel wants the 1.97-metre forward available not just under the European lights, but for the domestic curtain-raiser as well. Ajax open their Eredivisie campaign away to PEC Zwolle on Sunday 9 August, and the coach wants another weapon up front.

To make that happen, the club must register Arokodare with the KNVB by 12:00 on Friday 7 August. Miss that cut-off and the new signing watches the league opener from afar. Hit it, and Míchel can throw him straight into the squad, where he will immediately be fighting for minutes with Marcos Leonardo, the Brazilian brought in from Al-Hilal for just under twenty million.

The transfer itself is straightforward. On Wednesday, Ajax confirmed Arokodare’s arrival from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a one-season loan. The fee is modest, but the upside is not: an option to buy set at twenty million euros gives the Dutch club control if the move explodes into a success.

For now, though, everything hinges on a signature in an office rather than a finish in the box. Ajax have their striker. The question is whether the bureaucracy will let them use him when it matters most in these opening weeks.