Former Holland striker Rene van der Gijp insists Ajax defender Daley Blind would've been a veteran of Real Madrid or Barcelona if he had been a yard quicker.

Blind re-signed for Ajax from Manchester United almost three years ago, returning as a ball-playing centre-half.

“You can sometimes have it, hey, that people pay more attention to the things he cannot do than the things he can do," Van der Gijp commented after Ajax's 3-0 win at AZ.

"But if you look at what he can do: man, every ball he gives is just always good. Yes okay, he may indeed be a little too slow. He's just a really, really, really good player.

"I also know that he is not the fastest. But if Blind had been faster, he would have played in the firsts of Real Madrid or Barcelona for fourteen years."