Hakim Ziyech has taken aim at those who have claimed AZ would have deserved the Eredivisie title more than Ajax after the Dutch Football Federation (KNVB) took the decision to void the season without naming a winner or relegating teams in the drop zone.
The KNVB announced on Friday that the 2019-20 campaign was scrapped, with Ziyech's Ajax side at the top of the table ahead of AZ only on goal difference.
AZ have beaten Ajax twice in the league this season and some feel that the Alkmaar side would have deserved to be named champions – should one have been announced – due to that fact.
Ziyech, however, is of a different opinion, labelling those claims “bullsh*t” and pointed to PSV's 2007 title win which was decided on goal difference.
“Come on, what nonsense I have heard?” Ziyech told AD. “We are at the top anyway. All those stories that AZ deserved more because they defeated us twice. So the goal difference, as it always is, doesn't count now?
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“Bullsh*t of course. How did PSV become champion in 2007? Exactly, on one goal. That we are not official champions, well. Of course, I would also have preferred to have won the title on the field, but if you have to choose one club as champion, that is Ajax to me.”
The end of the Eredivisie season also meant the end of Ziyech's time with Ajax, with the Morocco international playmaker having agreed in February to join Chelsea at the end of the season.
Ziyech was unhappy he was unable to sign off with a title but he looked back fondly on his time with the Dutch giants, which included a league title and a run to the Champions League semi-finals last season.
“That would have been my closing in style,” Ziyech said. “As it is now, you do not want it to end. But over a longer period of time, I will cherish my best memories.
“And then, of course, that brings up last season. The championship, but especially our journey in the Champions League, how we amazed the whole world with our game. It all fit.
“That not only gives me a special feeling for all the players, but I think it will last forever. We left something at Ajax. And for me, it is now time for something new.”