Ajax advisor Johan Cruyff is keen for Marco van Basten to return to the club. Reports in the Netherlands suggest Van Basten, who played for the Amsterdammers with great distinction and then managed them less successfully in the 2008/09 season, has been offered the role of technical director at the ArenA.

Cruyff and Van Basten had their disagreements during Van Basten's coaching tenure but the former Barcelona man is confident they can work together should the latter opt to join the club for a third time. He told AD Sportwereld: "We have often sat together and talked.

"For us as former footballers, it is important to work with intelligent people. We always remained friends and sometimes friends have disagreements. When two intelligent people have a different opinion, they can both never be 100 per cent right."