The 23-year-old Kenneth Taylor signed for Italian outfit Lazio in early January for a fee of €16.85 million. The midfielder was headed for the exit at Ajax, where his contract was set to expire in 2027.
Guido Albers, Taylor's agent, revealed on ESPN's Goedemorgen Eredivisie that Taylor could've left the club for fees of over €30 million in the summer, with Wolverhampton Wanderers and FC Porto interested in the midfielder.
"The momentum and interest were there," Albers said of the summer of 2025. "I was 100 per cent convinced that it would happen during that window."
Wolves made the first move, according to Albers: "They came with a transfer fee of over €30 million. The tone was immediately set. It was important for Ajax that that number had to be met - that haunted me all summer long."
Albers revealed that super-agent Jorge Mendes had called Ajax about a potential move of Taylor to Wolves, who presented the midfielder and his agent with a convincing story.
"We had a meeting with manager Victor Pereira, who made a very good impression. They'd developed many players and sold many of them at a profit. When you look at how many players they'd brought to the Premier League's top - that's bizarre. Their story was good."
It wasn't enough for Taylor, however: "Kenneth didn't believe in the project. He said, 'Well, I'm not going to a club I don't believe in,' despite the fact that he had a good meeting there and had to gain experience at Wolves."
'Club from a Third World Country'
Porto, led by former Ajax boss Francesco Farioli, joined the race in the dying seconds and placed a bid of €22 million on the midfielder.
"Eventually, we came back in contact with Farioli, and he wanted to have Kenneth really badly. Only, Ajax categorise Porto as a club from a Third World Country. They didn't want to get into any financial business with them, so that fell through at the last minute.
"They didn't deem Porto reliable enough. The contracts were as good as done, Francesco (Farioli) was ready for it, but then they got Froholdt," Albers said.