Wijndal could have gone to a much bigger club, so why is he still stuck at Ajax?

Deadline day always leaves someone behind. This summer, Owen Wijndal was that someone. Hours before the Netherlands and Belgium windows closed, reports claimed Ajax wanted to push their left-back to Sint-Truiden. Yet Mike Verweij, the well-connected Ajax correspondent for De Telegraaf, dismissed it sharply. That is nonsense, real nonsense. Owen Wijndal could have gone to a much bigger club. According to De Telegraaf's Kick-off podcast, the real plan was for Ajax to terminate Wijndal's contract and let him join an unnamed club considered much bigger than Sint-Truiden. That club approached Ajax, but the move collapsed. Verweij did not reveal the club's name. Meanwhile, Ajax supporters were already celebrating the idea that Wijndal might leave, but the player knew from the start he would not agree to end his contract. The background is familiar but painful for Ajax. Wijndal arrived in Amsterdam in 2026 as a promising Dutch left-back from AZ Alkmaar for a significant fee. He never became a regular starter. His Ajax salary is confirmed at 2.5 million euros per year. Verweij summed up the situation in one sentence: Wijndal earns a lot at Ajax and has played too little. In other words, Wijndal has become a deadweight asset for Ajax. At 25, he should be entering his peak years as a full-back, but he has spent too much time outside the squad. Ajax no longer sees a tactical role for him. Considering a contract termination is not just a transfer strategy. It is an admission that the club made a mistake in recruitment and sees no realistic way to bring him back into the team. From my experience following Ajax's late transfer windows, a club willing to terminate a player's contract is doing more than cutting costs. It is confessing a squad-building failure. Ajax once believed Wijndal was the long-term answer at left-back. Now they are paying 2.5 million euros per season for a player who gives them no sporting return. The real obstacle is that Wijndal does not want to give up his salary. Verweij called this understandable. To Wijndal, the contract represents security. Leaving Ajax now would probably mean accepting a much lower wage. The bigger interested club wanted him without paying a transfer fee, hoping Ajax would terminate his deal so they could sign him on a free transfer. When Wijndal refused to walk away from his money, the interested club quickly moved on. It is easy to frame Wijndal as greedy. But from a player's perspective, the logic is clear. Ajax signed him on a high salary, failed to give him playing time, and then expected him to surrender that salary to help Ajax solve its own problem. Wijndal said no. Ajax now faces a costly dilemma: keep paying an unused player or negotiate a better departure package in January. The unnamed bigger club also revealed how the market values Wijndal right now. They saw him as a potential bargain, not a priority. When the deal required real compromise, they disappeared. That is a strong signal that his market value has fallen sharply since his AZ Alkmaar days. After the current windows close, Portugal and Saudi Arabia remain open, but Verweij says Wijndal is not interested in either destination. A January move looks more realistic. By then, Wijndal will be more willing to leave, probably for a lower salary, but with a chance to restart his career. Ajax will also understand that prolonging the situation only pushes the asset further down in value. Football has no room for dead contracts. The real question is not whether Wijndal will leave Ajax, but how much Ajax will have to pay for its own recruitment mistake when the next window opens.