Taylor starts at Ajax in the U8, where he plays together with former Ajacied Ryan Gravenberch and current teammate Brian Brobbey. After playing in every youth team and experiencing countless successes, the midfielder was rewarded with his first Ajax contract on May 25, 2018. Two years later, Taylor joined the first team at training camp.
After Taylor signed a new contract in 2020, he made his official debut in Ajax 1 on December 12 of that year. In the home match against PEC Zwolle he made his first official minutes in white-red-white. One year later, Taylor opened the score in the Cup match against BVV Barendrecht and, with that, scored his first goal for Ajax 1.
Several months later, on April 23 to be exact, Taylor appeared at the kick-off of an Eredivisie match for the first time. The young Ajacied is developing well and is allowed to play more minutes by coach Erik ten Hag by the end of the season. Ajax became champions that year and the midfielder took on the role of dressing room reporter.
Fixed value
Ajax rewarded Taylor with a five-year contract in the summer of 2022. The talented midfielder repaid the faith and had his breakthrough in the 2022/2023 season. Taylor becomes a fixed value in the Amsterdam-based team. In the first match of the season, the midfielder immediately scored in the away match against Fortuna Sittard. Taylor scores the equaliser shortly after half-time. Ajax ended the match in Limburg victorious, with the final score being 2-3. Taylor also scored in the match after that, when Ajax won 6-1 against FC Groningen.
That season, Taylor played an essential role in the mediocre away match against FC Emmen. The midfielder scored the 1-1, 1-2 and assisted the 1-3. He is the fourth Ajacied this season, contributing to at least the goals in one Eredivisie match.
Due to Taylor’s performance and consistency at Ajax, former Dutch national team coach Louis van Gaal took him to the World Cup in Qatar. In the third group-stage match, the Ajacied came on as a sub in the last four minutes of the match against the host. He substitutes former Ajax player Frenkie de Jong and comes on at a 2-0 score. The score remains unchanged, and the Dutch national team wins its third group-stage match. Taylor is benched during the knock-out phase.
Later that year, the midfielder played his fiftieth match for the first time during the victorious home match against RKC (3-1). At the end of that season, he succeeds Jurriën Timber as Talent of the Year. Taylor made 44 appearances and scored nine times.
Milestone
In the 99 matches and almost 7.400 minutes that Taylor has played before the away match against AZ, he scored 15 goals and gave 13 assists. The two-footed midfielder has played his first hundred matches under several coaches: Erik ten Hag (22), Alfred Schreuder (24), John Heitinga (20), Maurice Steijn (11), Hedwiges Maduro (2) and John van ‘t Schip (20).
So far, Taylor has played every match this season. Thanks to this, he follows in the footsteps of his teammate and best friend Brian Brobbey as the most recent member of the Club of 100.
