El Clasico Battles That Also Occur In The Transfer Market

Donny van de Beek (Twitter @ Donny_beek6)

JAKARTA - Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek is still the target of two La Liga giants, Real Madrid and Barcelona for next season.

The two clubs have been linked with a move for the Netherlands international ahead of the 2019-2020 season in which 'Los Blancos' reportedly made a 35 million euro bid after failing to get Paul Pogba from Manchester United.

However the Eredivise team rejected interest from Spain, as well as Serie A and Premier League clubs. They prevented their players from following in the footsteps of Frenkie De Jong, Matthijs De Ligt and Lassa Schone out of the Johan Cruyff Arena.

According to a report from Diario Sport, currently Real Madrid have the edge over their Catalan rivals, having spoken with Ajax and representatives of Van de Beek in the summer.

However, Barcelona did not give up in making efforts to land the 22-year-old at Camp Nou. 'Los Blaugrana' want to reunite Van de Beek with De Jong in their midfield next season as Sergio Busquets is nearing the end of his career.

However, despite frequently rejecting offers from various parties for Van de Beek, Ajax reportedly raised the player's price to 50-60 million euros because his profile continued to increase.

Van de Beek was born in Nijkerkerveen, 18 April 1997. He joined the Ajax academy in 2008 and made his competitive debut six years later in a Europa League match against Scottish club Glasgow Celtic.

In the 2016-2017 season, Van de Beek was included in the Europa League Team of the Week in November. The club progressed to the final but lost to Manchester United.

During the 2017-2018 season, Van de Beek proved himself capable of appearing in Ajax's starting eleven. He scored his first hat-trick for the club and finished the season scoring 13 goals. After the 2018-2019 season, in which Ajax reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, Van de Beek was included in the list of 30 people selected for the Ballon d'Or.

In the international arena, Van de Beek has represented the Netherlands at youth level. On 14 November 2017, he made his senior international debut against Romania.