Joel Piroe Discusses Ajax Talks and West Ham Move

Joel Piroe was closer to Ajax than many realised.

Speaking to Ajax Showtime on 2 September, the Suriname international revealed that conversations with Jordi Cruyff had pushed the Dutch giants into serious contention for his signature during their summer rebuild. Piroe liked what he heard. Ajax liked what they saw. The numbers did not match.

Ajax baulked at the €15m fee, wary of committing that money while Wout Weghorst and other forwards still needed to be moved on. The hesitation proved decisive. As Ajax hesitated, West Ham pounced.

The Championship club have taken Piroe on a season-long loan with an obligation to buy, a deal reportedly worth around £12m if promotion clauses are triggered. For a striker whose reputation rests on ruthless output in England’s second tier, it feels like a natural landing spot.

Piroe hit 19 league goals as Leeds United stormed to the Championship title in 2024/25. That kind of return doesn’t vanish from recruiters’ notebooks, even after a bruising year in the Premier League. West Ham want that penalty-box edge to fuel their own promotion push. He has already opened his account with one goal in three league appearances this season.

Ajax, though, were the romantic option. And Piroe didn’t hide how tempting that path looked.

“Jordi had already contacted us. Ajax was a serious candidate for me in that regard,” he told Ajax Showtime. “What you also gathered: they were really putting together a new team and they wanted to sign me as a striker as well… I felt a sense of confidence.

“On the other hand, I also thought: if you can bring Ajax back to what they were a few years ago, that would be great. That is certainly an ambition.

“At that moment, they thought €15m was too much. Back then, they still had to get rid of Weghorst and other strikers.”

The door to Amsterdam closed. The one to London swung open.

Why Leeds were ready to let him walk

From Leeds’ side, the decision looks cold but calculated.

Piroe arrived at Elland Road as a Championship predator. He left as a fringe piece. One goal in 21 appearances last season, none in 16 Premier League games, and just 259 league minutes under Daniel Farke told its own story. The trust had gone. So had the tactical fit.

Farke built his Leeds side around intensity without the ball and physical presence up front. Piroe thrives inside the box when chances flow, but he does not knit play together as a classic link striker, and he does not bring the pace or relentless pressing Farke demands from a lone forward.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Nmecha offered more of what the manager wanted: strength, hold-up play, aerial presence, the ability to occupy centre-backs on their own. In that structure, Piroe became an awkward luxury, an old answer to a new question.

So Leeds cashed in. From their perspective, they converted a player on the periphery into a structured deal in the £12m–£15m range, freeing wages and a squad spot while reinforcing elsewhere.

The gap Leeds chose to live with

There is a sting in the tail for Leeds.

They spent the summer strengthening other areas, bringing in James Trafford, Harry Wilson, Tarik Muharemovic and late-window attacker Jean-Matteo Bahoya. None of them, though, is a like-for-like central striker replacement for Piroe.

If Calvert-Lewin or Nmecha miss significant time, Farke’s forward options thin out quickly. The safety net has gone. Leeds finished 14th last season, a reminder of how fragile Premier League status can be, and the manager has clearly prioritised survival traits over keeping a proven Championship finisher as a backup.

From a pure squad-building standpoint, the logic holds. From a risk perspective, it leaves an obvious fault line.

For Piroe, the equation is simpler. He moves to a club that wants him as a focal point, in a division where his strengths have already been proven. For a striker built on timing, movement and finishing rather than all-action pressing, the Championship might once again feel like home.

If West Ham do go up with Piroe leading the line, Leeds may have to live with the sight of a former spare part becoming someone else’s promotion talisman.