According to the Daily Sports Newspaper, Ajax beat Barca's competition to successfully introduce Ecuador's 18-year-old midfielder Patrickson Delgado.
Delgado, who originally played for Ecuador's indie de Valle, has not yet played for Ecuador's senior national team, but is considered one of the country's greatest football talents of all time. Ajax will first loan Delgado for a season and a half until the summer of 2023 (the exact cost is not disclosed), and then have the option to buy out (although De Valle Indie will still retain Delgado's 50% ownership).
Dutch duo Ajax and Eindhoven have a tradition of scouting young players from South America, and Romario, Da Luo and Luis Suarez have historically been successful examples of such operations.
(gransabana)
![1-3 losses to qualify! Two more teams qualified for the World Cup: all four straight-through teams from South America were born[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)