De Boer slams Ajax transfer policy with the Dutch giants in the relegation zone

Ajax legend Ronald De Boer has claimed his former club 'can't make chocolate with s**t' as he slammed their dismal start to the season and criticised their signings.

The Dutch giants are in the relegation zone in the Eredivisie, and have not won a match since the opening weekend, despite spending over £86million on new players in the close-season.

A 2-1 loss at home to AZ Alkmaar on Sunday left Ajax third from bottom after six matches, their joint-worst start to a league campaign along with the 1964-65 season.

De Boer acknowledged it was naive to expect any immediate improvements and blamed the club's transfer policy for the current struggles.

'It may seem tough, but you can't make chocolate out of s**t,' he told the Voetbal International podcast.

'I'm really worried, I don't know where that's going. I have nothing against the guys who have arrived.

'They are happy to play at Ajax, but it is not possible to bring in so many second-rate players and think that they will perform at a higher level.'

Maurice Steijn's first season in charge of the four-time European Cup winners could have hardly begun more disastrously on and off the pitch.

Last month, Ajax's clash with arch-rivals Feyenoord at the Johan Cruyff Arena was halted twice and eventually abandoned in the 56th minute with the visitors 3-0 up after home fans launched flares onto the pitch.

The match resumed behind closed doors four days later, with Feyenoord completing the rout with a fourth goal.

Just hours before the resumption, Ajax chief Pier Eringa stepped down after just six months in his role following a deluge of criticism.

He was followed out of the door by director of football Sven Mislintat, who had only been appointed in May but was fired in a bid to quell unrest in and around the club.

Ajax face FC Utrecht away from home after the international break, which De Boer sarcastically described as a relegation six-pointer.

'I've never experienced anything like this,' he continued.

'I watched the loss against AZ on Sunday. The match was terribly bad.'

After three league titles in four years, Ajax finished third last season and failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 13 seasons.

It is a remarkable decline for Ajax, who came within a whisker of reaching the Champions League final under Erik ten Hag in 2019.

And De Boer, who won five Eredivisie titles and the Champions League with Ajax, warned it may be a while before the Amsterdam giants get to walk on European football's biggest stage again.

'Everyone thinks we were going to play against Bayern Munich or PSG for the next twenty years,' he said.

'All of that has now vanished and that hurts.'

In a bid to save their campaign, Ajax last week hired their former manager Louis van Gaal as an adviser.

Van Gaal, 72, won three league championships and the 1995 Champions League as head coach of the Amsterdam side between 1991 and 1997.

'I want to help Ajax,' he said in a statement on the club's website.

'I am willing to offer my football knowledge to the Supervisory Board, especially when Leo van Wijk and Michael van Praag are appointed.

'We must find our sportive way back up to the top, and we all have to contribute to that.'