Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United goalkeeper Andre Onana has confirmed that he rejected offers from other big clubs before he signed a new contract with Ajax in March.
Ajax signed the 23-year-old goalkeeper from the Barcelona academy in 2015 and he has been the club’s first choice between the sticks in recent seasons.
Onana’s consistency in goal has seen links with a number of clubs and in February, Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham were credited with holding an interest in securing his services.
But the goalkeeper signalled his intention to stay put by then signing a new contract with Ajax and he admits that he acted on the request of sporting director Marc Overmars.
Onana told Dutch daily De Telegraaf: “He brought me here and asked me, ‘Andre, please stay’.
“Sometimes it is important to listen to people who have helped you in the past, like Overmars and [Edwin] Van der Sar.”
Onana admits that he had financially better offers on his table than Ajax’s, amid links with Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham, but he did not want to leave the club who helped him develop.
“There was interest from many big clubs, who offered me much more money than Ajax.
“But Ajax have done a lot more me.”
It remains to be seen if any Premier League clubs will still try to tempt Ajax into selling Onana in the summer transfer window.
