Ajax’s goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, a potential replacement for David de Gea at Manchester United, could miss the his team’s Champions League first leg against Rapid Wien on Wednesday due to a calf injury.
If so this may allow Cillessen to avoid being cup-tied and so play in the competition for United. United’s manager Louis van Gaal has identified the 26-year-old as a possible successor to De Gea and believes Ajax would sell Cillessen to United.
“We’ll have to wait to see if he is able to play,” the Ajax manager, Frank de Boer, said last night. When asked if the injury was staged to assist any transfer, he added: “No, he really has a calf injury. Luckily, I would say, in this case.”
However, if he was to feature in either leg against Rapid Wien and Ajax progressed, Cillessen could not then play in the Champions League for United. If the Dutch club are knocked out with Cillessen in the team he will be eligible to play for another club in the competition.
Cillessen has travelled to Austria but Frank de Boer, the Ajax coach, has also included André Onana, the back-up goalkeeper, in the squad. Cillessen’s injury is understood to be minor and if he does not play there may be speculation that this is due to a possible move to United, with the return leg next week.
United, though, will only allow De Gea to go to Real Madrid if the defender Sergio Ramos can come the other way. The Spanish club have told Ramos he will not be able to depart.
