Jaap Stam The Preferred Choice Of Ajax Technical Director To Fill Vacant Manager's Role

Well this was inevitable wasn't it? As soon as Borussia Dortmund appointed Peter Bosz as their new boss on Tuesday leaving the Ajax managerial role vacant, speculation began on whether Jaap Stam would be making a return to Amsterdam to fill the position.

The 44-year-old finished his playing career in the Dutch capital, and also spent three years as a coach at the club before joining Reading last summer. The connection is there so it was only a matter of time before the rumours followed.

At first these seemed like exactly that. Just rumours. Sure, a poll on Dutch site AD Sportwereld may have shown that Stam was the fans' choice to replace Bosz, but that gave no evidence that Ajax were interested in bringing him in. The two names supposedly in the frame for the job were FC Utrecht boss Erik ten Hag and Roger Schmidt, formerly of Bayer Leverkusen.

Yet a report by Voetbal Primeur today presents a much more worrying message. According to their report, ten Hag and Schmidt are no longer being considered by Ajax as their preferred style of play would not suit the team. Instead, Director of Football Marc Overmars allegedly has a preference for Stam, who he played alongside with the Netherlands national team. Marcel Keizer, Stam's successor as Jong Ajax head coach, is the other name mentioned in the report.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Stam, who has also seen his odds to be the next Leeds boss plummet to as low as 14/5, told FOX Sports:

"I have not heard anything from Amsterdam yet. I've not been approached. I'm fine at Reading."

So that puts us at ease for now. Ajax reportedly want to appoint a new manager by the weekend so it is a few days of praying for Reading fans that they don't make a call to Berkshire.