Noussair Mazraoui: the glorious maverick of football

Ajax full-back Noussair Mazraoui recently signed with Bayern Munich on a free transfer. It sums up everything we love about Ajax: determination against the odds, a pension for highwire-like acts on the sidelines and the confidence to throw it all at the opposition. We will miss Amsterdam and his unique style will add something special to the German champions.

Art by Charbak Dipta

Many years ago I wrote an article listing the 19 most promising young players in the world renowned youth structure of the Ajax, De Toekomst. The list was naturally subject to my own biases, but I thought it reflected the skill level of many Amsterdam academy under-20s. Matthijs de Ligt

‘We’ Mazraoui was at the time a starting defender for Jong Ajax, the reserve team providing academy players with quality minutes against Dutch second-tier professionals. To call Mazraoui a defender, even now, would be a bit of a misnomer; Only João Cancelo and Trent Alexander-Arnold, full-backs I often watch, have similar composure in transition, intelligence in their passing choices and skill on the ball. It's that kind of jack-of-all-trades aura that becomes evident once you've seen Mazraoui play for a game or two. Rumor has it that Us was nearly kicked out of the academy at multiple age levels, possibly due to his inability to stand out in any category or position. It's incredibly lucky that he wasn't.

I remember a quote from Johan Cruijff where he wondered how, with the advances in scouting and data analysis in the modern game, he would never have reached Ajax 1 as a player today. Cruijff was an equally skinny city kid – he expanded his athletic toolbox by playing one-twos with the brick pavements, competing on the concrete courts that now stretch all over greater Amsterdam. We feel grateful to support a club that puts an emphasis on testing eyesight, competitive spirit and a player's intelligence above all else, when deciding who to continue playing. train and who to show the door to.

Now, after four seasons of spectacular performances at the Johan Cruijff Arena, Mazraoui is ready to show the door. He defied expectations and then set a new bar for himself and everyone to come after. Thanks We. Thank you for being the perfect representative of Ajax and everyone who supports the club. You are tenacious, intelligent, arrogant and suave, and Bayern München can count themselves lucky to have you.

Noussair Mazraoui: Player profile