Frenkie de Jong next? The 8 players to play for Manchester United & Ajax

Manchester United and Ajax are two of the biggest clubs in the history of football, but only a handful of players have ever played for both. Frenkie de Jong could become the next if transfer rumours are to be believed.

New United boss Erik ten Hag wants his former player reunited with him for his first Premier League season, and if he does come he would join an elite list of names.

While some had more success with one than the other, a small number lifted the biggest trophies with both. There are also those that failed to appear for both, despite being on the books at both the English and Dutch clubs.

Those include Johan Cruyff’s son Jordi as well as Timothy Fosu-Mensah, both of whom made senior appearances for United but left Ajax at a young age. They are joined by other youth players like Dillion Hoogewerf, Millen Baars and Gyliano van Velzen who all joined United’s youth set-up from Ajax but who all failed to appear for either side.

So who are the eight that De Jong could follow to have made senior appearances for Manchester United and Ajax? Here they are, along with how they fared at both clubs.

A legendary Irish figure, Stapleton made over 200 league appearances at Arsenal in the 70s before doing the same at Manchester United in the 80s.

But in 1987, with Sir Alex Ferguson conducting a clear-out at Old Trafford, Johan Cruyff picked up the forward for nothing.

“When I met him [Cruyff] he was was down-to-earth and normal as a person, even though we know how great he was as a player, and he knew it too!” Stapleton later said of the legendary Dutch figure.

“I found him very approachable as a manager… he joined in training at times. If we played a possession game, he’d never give it away. It made you think how good it