Ajax Racing to Register Arokodare Before Deadline

Ajax have their new striker in the building. Now they just need the paperwork to keep up.

On Wednesday afternoon, the club submitted the application for Tolu Arokodare’s work permit, according to De Telegraaf. It sounds routine. It isn’t. Journalist Mike Verweij has already called it “a race against the clock”, and he’s not exaggerating.

The calendar is the real opponent here.

Ajax all but killed off their current Conference League qualifier with that emphatic 1-4 win away to FK Vojvodina. One and a half feet are already in the next round. On Thursday at the Johan Cruijff ArenA, they can finish the job and make it official.

Once that tie is wrapped up, the real deadline hits. For the next qualifier, against Shelbourne or Nomme Kalju, Ajax must hand in a fresh squad list to UEFA by Wednesday evening, 5 August, at the latest. The club want Arokodare on that list. Desperately.

That’s why Jordi Cruyff will be watching his inbox more nervously than the match on Thursday. The moment the work permit lands, Ajax intend to move fast and register the Nigerian immediately for the next European round. Any delay, and a key attacking option sits out at a time when every European minute matters.

And Europe is only half the story.

Coach Míchel also wants the 1.97-metre forward available for the Eredivisie opener away to PEC Zwolle on Sunday 9 August. To make that happen, Ajax must register Arokodare with the KNVB by 12.00pm on Friday 7 August at the latest. Miss that cut-off, and the new signing watches the start of the league campaign from the stands.

Inside the club, the hope is clear: get the formalities done early, give Míchel a new weapon straight away. Up front, Arokodare will be thrown into direct competition with Marcos Leonardo, the Brazilian signed from Al-Hilal for just under twenty million euros. One arrives as a sizeable investment, the other as a calculated gamble with a potentially big payoff.

Because Wednesday also brought official confirmation from Wolverhampton Wanderers: Ajax have secured Arokodare on a one-season loan, paying a modest fee and negotiating an option to buy set at twenty million euros. It’s a structure that underlines their belief in his ceiling, without tying their hands too early.

The deal is done. The plan is clear. Now everything hinges on whether the bureaucracy moves quickly enough for Ajax to unleash their new 1.97-metre striker exactly when the season starts to get serious.