Ghana international Mohammed Kudus has won his first trophy at Ajax as the side beat Vitesse Arnhem to lift the Dutch Cup on Sunday.
In his first season with the Lancers, the 20-year-old watched from the bench as Brazilian winger David Neres scored in the first minute of injury time to dramatically hand his side a 2-1 win in the cup final.
Ryan Gravenberch put Ajax in the lead in the 23rd minute but Lois Openda hit back for the opposition only seven minutes later to level the score, before Neres’ late intervention.
The trophy is Kudus’ first career title and the club’s 20th Dutch Cup.
The Ghanaian was not the only African who celebrated Ajax’s win on Sunday.
Cote d’Ivoire striker Sebastien Haller, who transferred from West Ham United in January, featured for the entire duration of the game.
The Morocco trio of right-back Noussair Mazraoui, winger Oussama Idrissi and attacker Zakaria Labyad also watched from the bench, just as Burkina Faso striker Lassina Traore and Dutch U21 striker of Ghanaian descent Brian Brobbey.
Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana was, however, completely missing from the matchday squad as he continues to serve a Uefa ban for a failed drug test.
Last summer, Kudus joined Ajax on a five-year contract from Danish Nordsjaelland, the deal reportedly worth €9 million.
He made his debut for the side in a league clash against RKC Waalwijk and scored his first goal in a 5-1 Eredivisie triumph over Heerenveen in October.
In all competitions so far for Ajax, Kudus has made 16 appearances and scored twice, his number of outings limited by a meniscus injury sustained in October last year.
The youngster’s rise in stock has not only been a result of his promising start to life at Ajax.
In four Ghana appearances so far, the attacker has scored two goals and provided two assists.
