Yves Bissouma's Move to Ajax: A Risky Gamble
Yves Bissouma’s move to Ajax is close. Very close. The midfielder is in Amsterdam for his medical and is expected to sign a deal until mid-2027, with an option for a further year.
The football story, though, is being dragged along by a very different narrative.
A Premier League talent with Premier League baggage
In England, the reaction has been swift and sharp. Bissouma spent the last four years on the books at Tottenham Hotspur, and nobody questions whether he can play. The concern lies everywhere else.
British outlets have revisited the same themes: a gifted midfielder whose off-pitch behaviour repeatedly overshadowed his ability. The footballing verdict is positive; the character assessment is anything but.
Jack Johnson of talkSPORT did not dress it up. He wrote that it was no surprise Spurs chose not to extend Bissouma’s contract, pointing not only to the knee injury in his final season but also to “various problems” away from the pitch. Johnson recalled how then-manager Thomas Frank eventually dropped him from the squad after several late arrivals, citing a “lack of discipline.”
The pressure finally told when those issues collided with social media.
talkSPORT highlighted the incident that became a turning point: a video Bissouma himself posted online, showing him using nitrous oxide. That clip led directly to his exclusion. Even after the suspension, he was reportedly filmed a second time with a nitrous oxide balloon. The story stuck. So did the reputation.
Trauma, nitrous oxide and a warning from England
The Mirror added a more human layer to the picture. According to the paper, Bissouma later explained that a burglary at his home had deeply shaken him. He described serious mental consequences: anxiety, panic, depression and paranoia. That, he said, was how nitrous oxide entered his life.
It paints a complicated portrait: not just a reckless professional, but a player trying to cope with trauma in a destructive way.
Despite that context, the tone in the British press remains wary. The consensus is blunt: Ajax are taking a risk.
The Sun went as far as to issue a clear warning to the Amsterdam club. Their message was that Ajax will have to monitor Bissouma far more closely than his previous employers did, to avoid a repeat of those episodes that derailed his time in England.
Dutch scepticism: ‘You’re bringing in trouble’
The doubts are not confined to the other side of the Channel. In the Netherlands, the move is already provoking strong reactions.
On Monday evening, Valentijn Driessen did not hold back on Vandaag Inside. He poured cold water on the excitement around the Malian’s imminent arrival, choosing words that cut straight to the heart of the controversy.
“That is some Malian who is more into nitrous oxide than he is present at training,” he said, stressing the absurdity, in his view, of a professional footballer using nitrous oxide recreationally. He then drew a pointed comparison with another high-profile name.
Driessen recalled how Jordi Cruyff had previously ruled out signing Noa Lang because he was considered a “difficult” character. “But if you bring this one in… then you really are bringing in trouble,” he concluded.
It was a line that captured the mood among sceptics: Ajax are not just signing a midfielder; they are signing a case study in risk management.
Ajax’s gamble
So here Ajax stand. On the verge of landing a player whose talent once made him a coveted Premier League asset, yet whose recent past reads like a warning dossier.
If the medical goes as expected, Bissouma will put pen to paper in Amsterdam and start a new chapter, contract in hand until at least 2027. The question is simple, and brutal: will Ajax unlock the player Tottenham never fully saw, or inherit the problems his former clubs could not contain?
