Ajax revamped their attack this summer by signing four new forward players.

Marcos Leonardo moved to Ajax from Al Hilal for a fee in the region of €20 million. Ajax also signed Tolu Arokodare on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers and has the option to sign the Nigerian striker permanently next summer.

Following the departure of Mika Godts, Ajax had to go into the market for a new left winger. The Amsterdammers reportedly held talks over a deal to sign Noa Lang from Napoli, but the asking price of the Serie A club meant a transfer failed to materialise. Ajax also reportedly made offers for Brian Rodríguez from Club América and Borja Sainz from Porto, both of which were rejected.

Ajax eventually reached an agreement to sign Simon Adingra on loan from Sunderland, and reportedly hold the option to sign him permanently next summer for €16 million.

In search of a new right winger, Ajax showed interest in Barcelona winger Roony Bardghji. However, the Swedish winger suffered a serious injury in training and is expected to spend an extended period on the sidelines. Ajax in the end decided to sign Viktor Tsyhankov from Girona for a reported fee of less than €5 million.

One player Ajax were very interested in was Joel Piroe. The Dutch forward ended up signing for West Ham United from Leeds United.

Before he moved to The Hammers, Ajax were very interested in signing Piroe, the player himself has revealed in an interview with FC Afkicken.

"There were also options in the Netherlands. Jordi Cruijff had already contacted us about that. Ajax was certainly a serious candidate for me," Piroe explained.

"As you also heard, they were really building a new team, and they wanted to sign me as a striker as well.

"I felt confident, and on the other hand, I also thought: if you can bring Ajax back to what they were a few years ago, that would be just great. That is certainly an ambition.

"At that moment, they thought €15 million was too much. Back then, they still had to get rid of Weghorst and other strikers."

Ajax paid just under €20 million for Leonardo, so Piroe would have been slightly cheaper than the Brazilian forward.

Piroe only scored one goal for Leeds United last season, which came in the FA Cup against Norwich City. He finished the Premier League season having played only 246 minutes of football.

However, during the 2024/25 season, Piroe scored 19 goals in 46 games in the Championship, playing a pivotal role in Leeds' promotion back to the top flight of English football.

He is a quality player, but it is also understandable that Ajax did not want to pay €15 million for a player who played so little football last season.

While Leonardo has not had the best start to his Ajax career, he scored 48 goals in just 82 games during his two seasons in Saudi Arabia. He is regularly getting into great positions to score goals and will become a crucial player for Michel Sanchez when he finds confidence again.