Ajax Are Claiming Michael Laudrup Owes Them €3 Million

Ajax are claiming that Michael Laudrup owes them €3 million, which they allege should have been paid in tax following his move to Amsterdam in the summer of 1997. They published an ad in a Dutch paper last week summoning him to court in the Netherlands on the 29th of August. Laudrup has yet to respond but Swansea director (and Ado Den Haag supporter) John van Zweden has hit out at Ajax.

"I have spoken to Michael at length about his tax issue. He is shocked. Ajax have portrayed him as a criminal - as a tramp without a proper address or place to live. They have advertised that they don't know where Michael Laudrup is and therefore summoned him, via a legal advert, to appear in court within two months. We are taking about the manager of Swansea City. Ajax make out this is a criminal who is hiding and sleeping under bridges next to a river."

Ajax are standing by their actions though and a spokesperson defended the club.

"This is the formal procedure for legal action when the person involved is not living in the Netherlands or does not have a permanent address abroad. It is a big debate about gross and net wages which were paid to Laudrup. We can do nothing else but ask the players from that time to pay us the money back which they should have paid to the taxman."

Swansea are set to travel to the Netherlands in July for a pre-season tour which Swansea say will be unaffected by these developments. Laudrup spent just one season at Ajax, picking up an Eredivisie title.

H/T ESPN