Ajax leave Sebastien Haller out of the Europa League squad by accident

Ajax’s record signing Sebastien Haller was left out of the squad list for the game against Lille in the Europa League’s Round of 32.

There’s always a first time for everything, and we can definitely say we’ve never seen anything like this before. AFC Ajax forgot to include former West Ham man Sebastien Haller on the list of players eligible to play against Lille in the Europa League.

26-year-old Haller joined the Dutch champions this transfer market on a record-breaking signing from West Ham. In fact, Ajax paid €22.5 million-plus add-ons to secure the services of the highly-rated striker.

Nevertheless, it looks like the Amsterdam-based club may have to make do without their latest signing in the European games. Miel Brinkhuis, Ajax’s spokesman, confirmed to AD that Sebastien Haller is not a part of the squad list presented to UEFA.

“He is indeed not on the list, we are trying to find out what went wrong. We have contacted the KNVB and UEFA but they have not yet decided.”

Moreover, club manager Erik Ten Hag also clarified the situation at his pre-match press conference this Thursday.

“What went wrong? ‘It’s an administrative error. He has not been forgotten. It is indeed a thing with computers: turning a checkmark on and off. Something went wrong there. He was definitely on the list.

Of course we will do all we can. It is a trifle, a detail. Something went wrong and that has major consequences. That feels unfair.”

Dutch side Ajax have confirmed that they forgot to include their record signing Sébastien Haller in their Europa League registration squad

I mean we've all been there, but unfortunately Ajax can't just reload the most recent save file. pic.twitter.com/V6JZ9aQwE0
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 4, 2021

Sebastien Haller wasn’t happy with the club’s shocking mistake.

The Ivory Coast international has been an important asset at Ajax this year. Since his arrival, less than a month ago, Haller scored two goals and assisted his teammates four times on just six occasions. Naturally, he wasn’t too pleased to hear the news.

“He is incredibly disappointed,” said Ten Hag. “But he is also realistic, he knows that this mistake was not made intentionally. But it is a major setback. It’s a mistake that shouldn’t have happened.”