Ajax attacker Hassane Bande has criticised Manchester United target Erik ten Hag for axing him from his first-team plans, offering an insight into how ruthless the Dutchman can be.
Bande joined the Dutch heavyweights from Belgian outfit Mechelen back in December 2017 and was expected to replicate a similar level of form in the Netherlands to what he had produced in Belgium. However, he has struggled to make the grade at Ajax and is currently on loan at Istra 1961, where he has been since February last year.
But prior to leaving Ajax on loan, Bande was involved in an altercation with Ten Hag that saw him banished from the 52-year-old's first-team plans. The striker, in his first pre-season at the club, broke his calf bone and ruptured his ankle ligament, meaning he was sidelined for more than 12 months.
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Having lost a year of his football career, Bande was keen to make an impression on Ten Hag following his return, but he never got the chance. That is because the Burkina Faso international was on the receiving end of Ten Hag's ruthlessness, as he was dropped from the first-team picture and forced to play with the reserves.
"After my serious injury, I hoped to get back to playing as soon as possible," Bande told De Gazet van Antwerpen. "But after one half in a practice match, Ten Hag threw me out of the dressing room and sent me to the reserves.
"Mentally, I was left to my own devices. I tried to talk about my situation but got no answer.
"According to Marc Overmars [former Ajax director of football], it was the manager's choice that I had to accept. "It's difficult to accept a situation when you never got a real chance.
"Carel Eiting, who, like me, just came back from a serious injury, was allowed to stay with the first team."
Since being forced to train with the reserves, Bande has left Ajax on loan twice, with his current loan spell in Croatia amounting to a season-and-a-half, ending this summer. Since Ten Hag axed him from the first-team fold, however, he has wondered why he was never handed an explanation for his exile.
He added: "You start to ask yourself whether there might be something more involved. Racism?
"I never experienced it openly, but I did think about it, yes. I just never got an honest answer to the question of why I didn't get any more opportunities."
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