Taylor's Amsterdam career began a few hundred metres from the Johan Cruijff ArenA, at training complex De Toekomst. The Alkmaar-born Ajacied joined Ajax at the Under-9 level, where he encountered, among others, Ryan Gravenberch. The two Ajacieden were born on exactly the same day and in the same calendar year: May 16, 2002. "But Ryan is apparently an hour older," Taylor once joked.
Close friends
He built a strong bond with the midfielder and also became close friends with Brian Brobbey, Devyne Rensch and Jurriën Timber. All of them successfully came through Ajax’s youth academy in Amsterdam. Gravenberch was the first of the group to make his debut and moved to Bayern Munich in 2022. By then, Taylor had already made his Ajax debut and would go on to play alongside Gravenberch ten times for Ajax's first team. When Gravenberch left, Taylor took over his shirt number: eight.
It was in 2022 that Taylor firmly established himself as a regular starter at Ajax. In his first season and a half, he made 21 appearances, but after that, his match tally rose rapidly. Under Francesco Farioli in the 2024/2025 season, he played more often than ever before for Ajax: 52 matches. Statistically, it was also his best year, with 15 goals and eight assists.
In total, Taylor most often provided the final pass for a goal scored by, how could it be otherwise, his close friend Brobbey. He assisted the Ajax striker six times, while Brobbey returned the favour with four assists for Taylor.
With the two close friends in the starting line-up, Ajax recorded 38 victories. Taylor collected even more wins alongside another of his mates, Rensch: 51.
Eredivisie statistics
Taylor made 130 appearances for Ajax in the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie, totalling 9,671 minutes. By comparison, his predecessor in midfield, Gravenberch, played 72 league matches for Ajax.
Since 2022
We also analysed the statistics from the calendar year 2022 onwards, the year in which Taylor secured his place in the starting XI. Since then, the Ajacied features prominently in several key rankings. He has played the most minutes of any Ajax player across all competitions since 2022: 13,172. That puts him well ahead of Steven Berghuis (9,555) and Jorrel Hato (9,120).
Taylor has also been one of Ajax's most important attacking players over that period. Since 2022, only Brobbey (50) has scored more goals for Ajax than Taylor (35). In terms of shots on target, too, only Brobbey (117) is ahead of him, with Taylor registering 101.
In addition, Ajax's number eight created the third-most chances from open play in all competitions, behind Dušan Tadić (188) and Steven Berghuis (182). Kenneth Taylor was responsible for 149 chances from open play.
The midfielder also proved his worth defensively over the past four years. He won 627 individual duels, the highest total among Ajax players. Brobbey won 502, while Jorrel Hato won 490 since 2022.
And so Taylor heads into his move to southern Europe with plenty of positive baggage. With SS Lazio, a new adventure awaits. And with Taylor’s departure, the last remaining Ajacied from the close-knit group of Rensch, Gravenberch, Brobbey and Jurriën Timber has now officially moved on to a European top league.
Buona fortuna per tutto, Kenneth!
