It won’t be immediate, but Steven Bergwijn looks off to Amsterdam

The Steven Bergwijn saga appears to be in its final act. The Dutch International, two and a half years removed from his transfer to Tottenham Hotspur, will head back to the continent in the next couple of weeks.

Two reports have come out today, the first from Mike Verweij at De Telegraaf (via SportWitness) stating that Ajax are going to break their club-record transfer fee for the attacker. That sounds weird, but then you remember that AFC Ajax don’t do big transfers in. They usually make a boatload of money selling players to keep their youth academy flowing.

Indeed, a deal is likely to take precedence for both clubs, with the Eredivisie side needing to find a replacement for Sebastien Haller and Tottenham wanting to raise further funds as they back Antonio Conte’s rebuild.

Verweij, though, says a deal is not likely to happen soon because of a number of factors in play.

“That deal may take some time, and it has to do with several factors,” he told De Telegraaf.

“Daniel Levy is a very difficult negotiator, but also, accounting-wise, it seems interesting for Ajax to sign him after July 1st. So sell before and buy after July 1st, so you’re in two different financial years; Ajax can therefore write better figures.

This isn’t anything new, really. However, the sale of Sebastian Haller to Borussia Dortmund has greased the wheels enough for Ajax to up their bid for Bergwijn. Charlie Eccleshare has gone a step further and also confirmed what Verweij is reporting: Ajax will break their record fee but it won’t happen this week or next.

If you’re curious, Haller is Ajax’s most expensive purchase at £20.25m, so this isn’t smashing a record by any stretch but it’s still notable that Ajax are making a move that is huge for them.

We have talked several times about how it kind of hurts that Stevie couldn’t get the minutes he should have here and it seems everyone understands the situation. Spurs are going to use this money to strengthen the squad with a new attacker or defender, but the Paratici Scattergun has so many hits right now, it’s impossible to know where the sale actually happens.

I firmly believe Stevie is going to go to the Eredivisie and kill it. The league is built for an attacker like him and I hope he goes nuts. I don’t think any supporter will hold ill will for Stevie, especially after his heroics against Leicester. Without those goals, Spurs aren’t in the Champions League this coming season.

We’ll wait for our final farewell when this becomes official. We just have to hold off a couple of weeks.