Edwin van der Sar has accused Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag of "not really helping" Ajax by unapologetically raiding his former club in the summer transfer window.
Ten Hag turned to players he knows well to strengthen the Red Devils squad he inherited from Ralf Rangnick, first signing Lisandro Martinez from Ajax for £55million in late July. The defender was joined at Old Trafford by Antony one month later as United stumped up £85million to prise him from the Johan Cruyff Arena.
The duo's exits left the Amsterdam giants without key members of their spine, highlighted by the fact Martinez was crowned Player of the Year for their recent Eredivisie-winning campaign. Therefore, it is no surprise Ajax chief executive Van der Sar is less than pleased with former colleague Ten Hag.
However, the former goalkeeper - who won four Premier League titles and the Champions League with United - understands with a heavy heart why Ajax's players are inclined to move to Europe's top divisions. "I think that’s somehow the fate that Ajax has," Van der Sar said on BT Sport.
"We always develop and scout very good players, sometimes young players, and if they want to take the next step they always go to England, Germany, Spain, that kind of thing. Of course, with losing Erik we knew we were losing already a great manager. And, yeah, he's not really helping us because he took two of our best players also.
"We got a good transfer fee for them and that's of course the fate that Ajax has a little bit. But, in general, it's always nice to see in the first [Champions League] match how can we cope with that? How are the players that are replacing? Calvin Bassey, for example, replacing Martinez."
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Ajax signed Bassey from Rangers in July for a fee which could rise to £23million and the Nigerian international lined up at centre-back as the Dutch club defeated his former employers 4-0 in their opening Champions League group-stage fixture on Wednesday. Martinez, meanwhile, has struck up a fine partnership with Raphael Varane to help United win four consecutive games in the Premier League, marking a fine recovery following their poor start to the season.
Antony started the most recent of those victories, scoring on his debut in the 3-1 victory over Arsenal last weekend to announce himself on the English stage. United's winning run has seen them recover to fifth in the table but they suffered a defeat at home in midweek, losing 1-0 to Real Sociedad in their opening Europa League clash.
