Can I have the honour of opening this one?
He is officially an Ajacied.
Left winger, number 10 or whatever he will play, welcome!

You sure can, my friend!

Here's the report on Sky Sports:
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 11,00.html

And here's the report on Ajax.nl (English):
http://english.ajax.nl/web/show/id=1548 ... ntid=63893

Welcome Luque!

K.

Its funny how other sites have said that Luque had a bad run at Newcastle, while ajax.nl simply said he was at newcastle.

He was top class at deportivo so i expect great things from him

So what's the story now with the fee?

I think it's a great signing IF he shows some of the top performance as he showed in Depor...

Luques like a good signing.

Sorry...

i would imagine we did not pay Newcastle more than £5m . They paid over £9m for him 2 years ago and he has 3 years left on his contract.My paper yesterday said we would get him for free but I am sure we would not pay more than £5m and probably not as much as that.

His salary with us is £1.5m per year for 3 years so overall he could cost us up to £10m .
Still a lot of money for a player nearly 30 who has spent the last 2 years injured a lot.

I hope I am wrong but this smacks of a bit of a desperation signing.

Ten Cate claims that Luque was actually the top name on Ajax's list. They contacted Newcastle earlier this summer, but they didn't want to talk. Ajax then reverted to plan B, which was Riera. That didn't happen, so they tried Newcastle again - this time succesfully.

He was on the stands against Heerenveen, by the way. The camera zoomed in on him and he waved. He will join the squad to go in training on Thursday, after the Slavia game (for which he is not eligible; he is for the group stage).

K.

Ko , thank you for the info on the Luque move. Unlike some coaches , I don't need a truck load of salt along with HtC's comments. He seems to shoot pretty straight ; as straight as is prudent anyway. .Ajax sure kept any earlier interest in the player quiet . The total opposite of the Riera soap opera.

Also , thank you for a great summary of today's match.

Im not familiar with Luque did he have injury problems in Spain or just in the EPL ?

I recall he was fit and playing most of the time in Spain, just in the EPL.

Here's the man's story...

http://www.ajax-usa.com/news/2007-2008/ ... tract.html

K.

Here's the plan with Luque...

He was at the ArenA on Sunday and watched Ajax play against Heerenveen. He went back to Newcastle that evening, because he still had some personal stuff to take care of over there. He was in Newcastle yesterday and still is there now. He will fly to Amsterdam later today.

Henk ten Cate and the first team will be in Prague by that time. Luque will do some individual fitness tests and training sessions with Young Ajax coach Adrie Koster at De Toekomst: one today (end of day) and one or two more tomorrow.

The reason for this is to determine where Luque stands at the moment, 'fitness-wise'. This is important information for the first team staff, when they return from Prague.

Mind you: this has nothing to do with injuries or anything like that. We're talking about match fitness here. Luque has passed his medical test: he has been deemed medically fit.

K.

An MRI scan at the hospital made clear that Luque over-stretched a muscle in his groin when he scored against VVV last Sunday. The Spaniard will be sidelined for two, possibly up to four weeks.

K.

Luque is back in training

Albert Luque scored again. The best way to silence his critics. Looking a better signing as the weeks pass. Hope he will introduce himself to De Kuip in a big way next week .

He was man of the match, worked like a horse, had several beautifull passes and was applauded by the audience. He was very happy and so were the trainers.

Completely agree, you can just see his self confidence growing week-on-week. Yesterday he started trying little tricks and showboating, now admittedly 2/3rds of them didn't come off, but the fact that he was attempting them at all is evidence of how his confidence is growing.

Far from being the catastrophy that many predicted, this might just turn out to be Ajax's smartest buy in years.

I agree as well. I don't think he's fit enough to go 90 minutes yet, but I like his attitude and his work-rate. He also seems to be creating good chemistry with Suarez and KJH, which will hopefully only improve over time.

As you said, he could really blossom at Ajax. When he was subbed off, you could see how happy he was to be given such a warm reception by the crowd.

So, he's our new penalty man.

The first one was perfect. Well taken.

K.

I think he's going to turn into a very good purchase. I'm not sure he's a 90 minute player yet, and he sometimes tries to take two men on when he should look up for a pass. But he runs his heart out and seems to feed off the crowd. He looks like he's getting his confidence back, which is a good sign for the team.

I've said it before: despite the lack of a replacement for Sneijder, the attacking trio of KJH, Luque and Suarez is a pretty darn good one.

As long as Luque and Suarez attack opponents and not each other , our three headed monster up front should continue to create havoc . What a great situation for all three . Each is a creator as well as a finisher. Add Kennedy and Rommedahl . Not too shabby.

Back to Luque . What a terrific purchase . As regards his role as peno taker , I hope Lucky will have the opportunities to becomes as much of a weapon from the spot as Bergdolmo or Galasek were in recent years.

Is Luque injured or out favour recently. I have'nt seen him on the team sheet, or am I wrong?

Out favour.

Re-posting...


Luque should get more playing time, I agree with you there, but I don't think he will leave. He has a contract, he will be expensive and I don't think anyone will want to pay much for him. He's Ajax's biggest earner and I don't think anyone else will offer him the same salary at the moment, so I think he'll want to stay and give it another try under Van Basten. He's pretty much stuck here for at least another season.

K.