Steven Bergwijn thinks that his poor form recently has nothing to do with the emergence of Mohammed Kudus in the Ajax starting lineup.

The 25-year-old winger said that at the Ajax press conference in the run-up to the Champions League match with Napoli on Wednesday evening.

It was suggested that Bergwijn might have a lesser click with Kudus compared to Brian Brobbey, but the Amsterdammer denies that.

“I don't know what's going on”, Bergwijn answered a question about his lesser form. “That is part of football. It is not always an upward trend. Everyone has better and lesser phases. I train hard every day, it will get better on its own."

When asked later whether Bergwijn's form dip might be related to the arrival of Kudus instead of Brobbey in the Amsterdam base, Bergwijn replied: "Certainly not. It just doesn't work. "Like at the beginning of the season, it goes up and down. That has nothing to do with other players. I click with everyone. It has nothing to do with Mo or Brobbey. This is just part of top sport."

Last Tuesday, Ajax lost hard at home against Napoli: 1-6. Bergwijn played the entire match and was impressed by gli Azzurri . “I expected Napoli to be this good, if you look at the names and the players out there. It is a very strong team, Napoli has the complete picture at the moment.”

Trainer Alfred Schreuder joined in. "If you beat Liverpool at home and win almost everything in the league, then you know it's a good team," said the coach, who then looked ahead to Wednesday's game. “In terms of attitude, it's the same as the home game, but in detail we have to do things differently. We want to dominate here. If we can give high pressure, then we just have to do it. But sometimes we can also be a little lower. The game principle must remain the same, we must continue to use it. We have not considered a new system. We go on the field with eleven players. You all play football, attack and defend together. It's about the game principles. Whether you play with three, four or five in the back is not interesting."

Ajax has to do it against Napoli without Devyne Rensch, who has suffered a minor groin injury.

According to Schreuder, he will be absent for about two weeks. A possible replacement at right-back is Jorge Sánchez, who has just recovered from an injury.

However, Schreuder does not count on the Mexican being able to participate in the entire match on Wednesday evening.

“It is unlikely that Sanchez will play 90 minutes. He has been able to train well the last two or three days. We will decide tomorrow morning what we are going to do," concludes the trainer.