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Lucas Ocampos involved in bizarre transfer saga as Ajax agree fee with Sevilla then pull out

  /  autty

Sevilla winger Lucas Ocampos has been left in limbo after being at the centre of a bizarre £17million transfer deal involving Ajax.

The Spanish side had agreed a fee with the Eredivisie champions, who are now flush with cash following the £85.5m sale of Antony to Manchester United earlier this week.

However, the Dutch giants then pulled out of the deal to sign the 28-year-old, who had already boarded a plane to fly to Amsterdam with the expectation of completing a medical before sealing his move on Wednesday.

Reports in Holland suggest Ajax's board of directors vetoed the signing, believing the £17m fee, a multi-year contract and a generous salary for Ocampos was 'irresponsible' at the moment.

Ocampos was therefore put on a flight back to Seville, with reports claiming Ajax technical manager Gerry Hamstra and ex-striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - another member of the technical staff -  flew out to Spain to apologise to him.

However, the latest twist has seen the Ajax now trying to sign the Argentina international on a loan deal before Thursday's deadline.

Reports in Holland claim signings Ajax want to make which cost more than €1m must be submitted to the board of directors for approval.

The report added the only way the Ocampos deal would go through was if Hamstra, Huntelaar and CEO Edwin van der Sar could convince them.

That now appears to have happened with negotiations now underway to see if a loan deal is possible.

Ocampos scored nine goals and recorded six assists from 42 matches across all competitions last season for Julen Lopetegui's men.

He has not scored or assisted in three LaLiga matches so far this term, with Sevilla languishing in 15th with just a single point to their name.

Sevilla are on the verge of signing Ocampos' replacement in Adnan Januzaj – with the ex-Man United star set to sign as a free agent following the expiration of his contract with Real Sociedad.

Related: AjaxSevilla