Brian Brobbey has claimed he can ‘live with’ criticism from Ronald Koeman, after the Netherlands manager claimed that the Ajax striker’s first touch and finishing were ‘not good’.

The former Barcelona, Everton and Southampton manager’s comments came just weeks after he had given the 21-year-old star his international debut during their European Qualifiers match against Greece in October. 

But the youngster, who has been linked with a move to Man United and Real Madrid in the past, didn’t take Koeman’s comments seriously, acknowledging that he was still a very young footballer and had plenty of things to improve on.  

‘I still have a lot of points for improvement and that can be trained

He added: ‘There are always people who say something about me, but I can’t influence that. I can live with it.’

Ajax forward Brian Brobbey has said he is not taking Ronald Koeman’s criticism of him too seriously

The Netherland’s manager slammed the centre-forward claiming that his first touch and finishing were ‘not good’ 

Brobbey, who has featured in all of Ajax’s 10 league matches so far this season, claimed that he ‘can live with the criticism’  

The centre-forward scored 14 goals in 45 appearances across all competitions last season and has continued to find the back of the net at the start of the 2023-24 campaign, returning four goals in ten Eredivisie matches. 

At international level, Brobbey has progressed through the Dutch youth system, earning 17 caps for the U21 side, featuring in all of their 2023 UEFA Euro U21 Championship matches over the summer. 

But Koeman had given an honest assessment of the young stars’ game. 

‘During the international period, we were finishing and then you saw that his first touch and the way he finished was not good,’ he said to Dutch TV show, Rondo.

‘As a coach, wouldn’t you work on that? It’s not about getting fitter but about finishing.

‘If you train every day on finishing, you’ll become technically better at it.’ 

But Brobbey seems to be a favourite up top for Ajax boss John van ‘t Schip, with the forward having now started in all ten of Ajax’s league matches this season. 

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‘Brian is fitter and stronger than when he came back to Ajax and can keep going for ninety minutes,’ his club manager said on Koeman’s criticism.

This season, Brobbey has typically played as the spearhead of a front three, flanked by Stephen Bergwijn and Steven Berghuis.

‘He is a strong point of contact and has depth in his game.’ Van ‘t Schip added. ‘But Brian can certainly make strides. He is already a good striker, but can become an even better one.’

They’ll welcome Brighton to the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Thursday and will be hoping to undo their disappointing 2-0 defeat by the Seagulls last time out.

It was Roberto De Zerbi’s side’s first ever win in a European competition with Joao Pedro and Ansu Fati both scoring to seal the win at the Amex Stadium. 

Ajax are languishing at the bottom of Group B, having failed to win a game so far. 

Ajax boss John van ‘t Schip lumped praise on Brobbey, claiming that he still has plenty left to deliver 

Van ‘t Schip (pictured) will also be hoping that his side can claim victory against Brighton on Thursday, with the Eredivisie outfit currently sitting bottom of Group B in the Europa League

A win on Thursday would see them go ahead of Brighton and potentially AEK Athens, should they suffer defeat to Marseille.  

‘This match will be different than when we played Brighton away,’ said Van ‘t Schip. 

‘I can understand we played defensively then, but now we need more offensive football. That’s what we plan to do tomorrow.

‘I understand how we approached the game there. We didn’t really get out up front, we have to improve on this. We will do differently tomorrow. You could see in Brighton, we didn’t create enough.’