Ajax director general Edwin van der Sar concedes Noussair Mazraoui is set to leave.

Off contract in June, fullback Mazraoui has been linked with Barcelona.

In an interview with Het Parool, Van der Sar said: "If this becomes a fashion it's a threat to Ajax. We want to win and become champions and go as far as possible in Europe. You need the best players for that. That's the short term, you need to protect the club in the long term too.

"We've lost months in negotiations.

"We'd like to keep him but now it's the middle of December so you know where it's going."