Santiago Gimenez continued to impress reported suitors Arsenal by netting Feyenoord’s first-ever hat-trick away to Ajax behind closed doors on Wednesday afternoon.
The Mexican striker added his third goal to seal a 4-0 win as the two sides played out the remaining 34 minutes without fans at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.
A report in The Times has named Gimenez, 22, as on Arsenal’s radar while they consider attacking reinforcements in the January transfer window. Ivan Toney is another target although players will likely have to be sold to land either player.
Feyenoord’s clash was halted on Sunday as fans threw flares onto the pitch, and mounted police used tear gas to disperse rioting fans outside the stadium.
Ajax were trailing 3-0 in the second half when the game was initially suspended in the 56th minute before being abandoned.
Gimenez needed only three minutes after play restarted to score and make it 4-0, snapping up a rebound after Igor Paixao had his initial effort blocked.
That made it nine goals in only seven matches for the striker this season, in what was only the second time Feyenoord had scored four goals away against rivals Ajax as they went third in the Eredivisie.
𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐆⚽️⚽️⚽️ https://t.co/9zAJdBti3d pic.twitter.com/YvuOOhQMJr
— Feyenoord Rotterdam (@Feyenoord) September 27, 2023
The defeat adds pressure on new Ajax coach Maurice Steijn whose future has been the subject of much speculation. After Sunday’s fiasco Ajax fired their technical director Sven Mislintat, who had appointed Steijn, and the club's top administrator Pier Eringa resigned hours before the rearranged kick-off.
Ajax, who have had a poor start to the season with just one win, sit 14th in the league. They finished third last season and failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 13 seasons.
