Sven Botman relishing Ajax-Lille Europa League tie | OneFootball

While Lille’s Sven Botman was watching the end of Monday’s Europa League draw, he had a strong sensation that he would be heading back to face his former club Ajax.

His transfer was a rather surprising one over the summer, moving to France in an €8m move despite never having played a single match for the Ajax first-team.

After his impressive loan spell at Heerenveen, many Ajax fans expected him to be a big part of the starting XI. Now they’ll get to see what they missed out on when the two sides face off on the 18th and 25th of February.

“In the beginning, you hope for a simple opponent, but because all the easy things were quickly gone, I already had the feeling that it would be Ajax,” he revealed to De Telegraaf.

“I said to my teammates: we are going to Amsterdam.

“I was overjoyed of course. These will be two beautiful games. Hopefully, the fans of Ajax and Lille can be there. Although the chance seems greater at the moment in France than in the Netherlands.

“I don’t see it that way (as a point to prove to Ajax). I am happy with the step I have taken and do not harbour any feelings of revenge.

“Not at all, because I am grateful to Marc Overmars. He actually did not want to lose me at all. But I now want to show the men how I developed myself.

“I’m now a player from Lille. So I’m going to do everything I can to get one round further.”

Botman has become one of Lille’s most reliable players this season, starting all but one game as Lille has started off on a flyer, currently occupying the first-place position in the Ligue 1 table.

The 20-year-old was also called up to the Netherlands squad for their November Uefa Nations League victories against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Poland.