impresses Michiel Teeling on his debut for Ajax. The football commentator of ESPN believes that the 21-year-old center defender from Turkey is applying for a starting place with his substitute appearance against AZ.
Kaplan started the match against AZ on Sunday from the reserve bench. However, he was brought in by coach John van ‘t Schip after just 36 minutes of playing football at a 1-0 deficit, because Anton Gaaei was not sufficient as right wingback. Kaplan was brought in by Van ‘t Schip as center back, making Devyne Rensch the new right wingback.
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Although Kaplan ended up in a struggling team and Ajax also had to concede the 2-0 after the break, the young stopper made a solid impression during his substitute appearance. When he sent a beautiful cross pass to Chuba Akpom in the 74th minute of the match, he was praised by Teeling. “That’s a good kick from Kaplan… He also has that in him. With this substitution, Kaplan is applying for a starting position,” Teeling said in his comments.
These were only Kaplan’s first minutes in Ajax’s main squad since his arrival from Trabzonspor in the summer of 2022. The Amsterdam club paid 9.5 million euros for the left-footed defender at the time, but could hardly enjoy him due to a serious knee injury. .
2024-02-25 17:33:49
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