Six months after prying Nicolás Tagliafico away from the Argentinian top flight, Ajax are set to dip once more into the market with a €9.5 million move for Boca Juniors’ centre-back Lisandro Magallán.

With the Dutch giants reportedly preparing to lose talented young defender Matthijs de Ligt in this window, Magallán could arrive to the Amsterdam Arena in a deal that will allow Boca to revisit their bid to sign Paraguayan Gustavo Gómez.

Boca have been holding out in the hope that the price was driven up by other interest but Ajax have been front-runners throughout and everything is said to be agreed for a €9.5 million transfer.

Gimnasia are set to take 20% of that after selling Magallán to Boca for around $1.4 million in 2012 but the deal still represents good value for the Superliga champions.

Perhaps not the ball-playing centre-back that de Ligt is, Magallán is a powerful defender who seems to relish physical battles and is a decent reader of the game.

Regular watchers of the Superliga will feel there is greater value elsewhere but at 24 years of age, Magallán should be ready to slot straight into the starting eleven and may represent less of a risk in that regard.

Magallán has been a regular in Guillermo Barros Schelotto’s side as Boca defended their league title and although it took a number of years to cement his place, two valuable loan spells at Rosario Central and Defensa y Justicia helped the youngster gain valuable top flight experience.

Boca Juniors being in far better financial shape than most in Argentina has enabled the club to hold out for what is likely Magallán’s maximum value and at 24 that would only decrease if the defender was to remain at the club for longer.

With the money, Barros Schelotto can finally try and complete a deal for Gustavo Gómez and if the Paraguayan could rekindle his Lanús form, it would be difficult to argue that Boca are worse off.