Eljero Elia says Ajax prodigy Abdellah Ouazane should be playing every week

Eljero Elia believes 17-year-old Abdellah Ouazane has already shown enough at Ajax to merit regular first-team football.

The former Feyenoord and Juventus winger says the Moroccan teenager should be starting matches every week after being impressed by his performances in Amsterdam.

Ajax have dropped seven points in the Eredivisie this season, but former Netherlands goalkeeper Tim Krul believes there have been promising signs in the football produced under new head coach Michel Sanchez.

Krul also credits technical director Jordi Cruijff for helping to shape the club’s approach. “What Cruijff has put in place at Ajax, with Tolu and Brandt, for example, is fantastic,” he said.

Elia then highlighted Ouazane, saying he had rarely seen a player so young make such an impression.

“The last time I saw a boy that young doing that was Ismail Aissati,” said Elia, referring to the former Netherlands international who came through the PSV academy before moving to Ajax.

“I love it,” Elia added of Ouazane. “This boy simply needs to play.”

He believes the teenager fits the long-standing Ajax principle that age should not prevent a player from being selected.

“At Ajax, they always say: it does not matter how old you are, you play,” said Elia, who won 30 caps for the Netherlands. “I think this is a special case.”