Ajax star Mohamed Ihattaren is being "threatened and intimidated", worrying reports in the Netherlands claim.
The 20-year-old is currently on loan at Ajax from Juventus but was not included in the club's travelling squad for a pre-season training camp in Austria.
29 players were announced for the trip on Sunday, with Ihattaren omitted alongside Maarten Stekelenburg and Amourricho van Axel Dongen.
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In a statement, the club said the trio were absent "because they are not fit". However, Mike Verweij from De Telegraaf is reporting that the reasons for his omission are in fact much more concerning.
According to the report, the Netherlands youth international is being given time off to take care of private issues.
There is too much information given regarding the threats made but we do know that Ihattaren is being blackmailed and not by any supporters.
The club's new manager Alfred Schreuder has shown his support for the attacking midfielder by visiting and the club are also firmly behind him.
Ihattaren signed for Juventus in a £5 million move last year and was immediately loaned out to Sampdoria for regular game-time.
But it just didn't happen for Ihattaren, who didn't make a single appearance. It was speculated in November that he was considering retiring aged just 19 due to struggling from depression which stemmed from his father's passing from cancer in 2019.
There were concerns about his professionalism from Sampdoria but instead Ihattaren joined Ajax on loan in January and scored five times in four games for their second team.
Ihattaren broke into the first-team of Ajax's rivals PSV at the age of 17 and made 74 appearances, finding the net 10 times.
Topics: Ajax, Eredivisie
Josh Lawless