Ajax boss Frank De Boer has revealed that Chelsea midfielder Marco Van Ginkel turned down a January move to the club.
The 22-year-old, who joined the Blues from Vitesse in 2o13 has made just four appearances for the club with none of those having been for a full 90 minutes.
A loan spell with AC Milan this season has seen the youngster play just five games for the Serie A side, but he turned down a permanent move to Dutch giants Ajax.
But Ajax manager De Boer says the club made an approach to sign Van Ginkel, but captured Daley Sinkgraven from Heerenveen after being turned down.
“We asked Van Ginkel if he wanted to move, because (Davy) Klaassen and (Thulani) Serero were not fit,” he told reporters.
“At first we were looking at him and after that we focussed on Sinkgraven for the future. Due to injuries we needed Sinkgraven right away. And besides that, Van Ginkel didn’t want to come.”