Mounir El Hamdaoui

[Blind3]

In twenty years, when old man Hamdaoui is retired and talking to youngsters on a training pitch somewhere or reveling listeners with tales of yore , his goal today will be an twenty yard screamer. A 12 million euro screamer.... or more.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

Loving his celebration, i think we are going to wash everybodys face this year and win the eredivisie

[Van basten]

Chelsea set their sights on prolific Ajax star

Chelsea are considering a big-money bid for prolific Ajax striker Mounir El Hamdaoui.
The Moroccan, who spent a season at Tottenham five years ago, has often operated in the shadow of Luis Suarez at Ajax.
But he has been grabbing the headlines this season with 13 goals already, while strike-partner Suarez has failed to score in seven Eredivisie games.
The Moroccan's form has alerted Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City, who are all interested in bringing the striker back to the Premier League.
El Hamdaoui joined Tottenham in 2005 and spent a forgettable season at White Hart Lane under Martin Jol. He failed to appear for Spurs but did make nine appearances on loan at Derby.
But the striker, 26, is now rated at £17.5m following his explosive form for Ajax.
Sources in the Dutch press have suggested that Chelsea are the favourites to land the forward and Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti reportedly said he "loved" El Hamdaoui's style.
But in addition to other clubs in the Premier League, Chelsea will face competition from Juventus and Atletico Madrid, who are also tracking the striker who has been compared to Dutch legend Dennis Bergkamp.

[aveslacker]

Let me guess. Goal.com?

[SPL]

Of courseGoal.com and the Daily Mirror but in this case they have increased the value. El H has scored some good goals but his value cannot go up from 5m to 20m in 3months! If he were still at AZ and scored the same amount of goals this story would not have appeared.

[Rooie]

Ajax has sent El Hamdaoui on holiday. De Boer: 'Mounir is physically and mentally not able to play at the moment.'

[aveslacker]

Ajax has sent El Hamdaoui on holiday. De Boer: 'Mounir is physically and mentally not able to play at the moment.'

As much as I like what El Hamdaoui can bring to the offense, I really, really like the fact that De Boer will not put up with bullshit.

[rjf1]

As much as I like what El Hamdaoui can bring to the offense, I really, really like the fact that De Boer will not put up with bullshit.

What happened?

[Kowalczyk]

Summary...

As we all know Frank de Boer has changed the tactical system: he is reverting to 'old skool' Ajax football. El Hamdaoui is one of the 'victims' of this, so it seems: for his very first game as a head-coach, De Boer dropped El Hamdaoui and played Siem de Jong at 'number 9', with a 'number 10' (Eriksen) behind him and proper wingers. De Boer wants Ajax's 'number 9' to be a team player: a player who can hold up the ball, win aerial duels etc, a player who makes others play well.

El Hamdaoui is not a player like that. He's a real 'target man', the last station of an attack. He's not very good at being involved in other stages of an attack (holding up the ball, etc.).

El Hamdaoui was extremely angry with De Boer for dropping him. De Boer talked to him the day after the Milan game and basically told him: you're time might come, but not right now, Ajax need a 'predictable' number 9 right now, a player they can count on - not an individualist like you.

Reportedly, El Hamdaoui didn't take this well. He reported sick and has been 'ill' ever since. Ajax told journalists that he had the flu, but yesterday De Boer admitted that El Hamdaoui is at home, extremely disappointed and mentally/psychologically unable to play for Ajax at this point". This is also El Hamdaou's official statement. This is why De Boer decided to dismiss him: El Hamdaoui is 'on holiday' until January 4th (the day Ajax go back in training).

According to press reports El Hamdaoui is trying to force a transfer.

My opinion? I think El Hamdaoui should be f**king ashamed of himself. What a pussy. What a load of bollocks. Ajax were playing like shit, he didn't score any goals, the new boss decided to do things differently... and it worked almost instantly. What right does El Hamdaoui have to demand anything at this point?

This is typical 'superstar behaviour', typical of someone who thinks he's bigger than others, bigger than the club even.

Ajax should try to offload him a.s.a.p., if you ask me. He will be a very very negative factor in the squad come January. We must make sure we don't lose any money over it, though. But if someone offers the right fee - do it. Dump the dude.

Frank de Boer has every right to do this. I agree 100% with what Aveslacker said.

K.

[Orange14]

If de Boer stays as manager either Suarez or El Hamdaoui are gone in January. I don't think that we need both of them given the formation and tactics that de Boer wants to employ. Interesting that we all thought El Hamdaoui was the player we needed to complete the team back in September. Just goes to show how much we know!

[rjf1]

No player is more important than the team -- if you think you should be playing instead of someone else you keep your mouth shut -- work harder -- and show it on the field. I have no patience for prima donna antics. If he can't accept that, then let him be careful that the door doesn't hit him in the butt on the way out.

[saddlerian]

My opinion? I think El Hamdaoui should be f**king ashamed of himself. What a pussy. What a load of bollocks. Ajax were playing like shit, he didn't score any goals, the new boss decided to do things differently... and it worked almost instantly. What right does El Hamdaoui have to demand anything at this point?

This is typical 'superstar behaviour', typical of someone who thinks he's bigger than others, bigger than the club even.

Ajax should try to offload him a.s.a.p., if you ask me. He will be a very very negative factor in the squad come January. We must make sure we don't lose any money over it, though. But if someone offers the right fee - do it. Dump the dude.

Frank de Boer has every right to do this. I agree 100% with what Aveslacker said.

K.

I seem to recollect that I posted a few messages saying that El Hamdaoui couldn't play with Suarez and didn't play the Ajax way.....I was shot down!

I wonder if our two Scottish friends might understand what I was saying.....have I got a crystal ball, no...I've just seen too much shite like El Hamdaoui playing in the English lower leagues....they can score when the ball's there, but don't do anything to help the team!

Let him rest in peace......his career's almost dead!!!

[gordonvandekamp]

Newest rumor is that Jol wants to take El Hamdaoui to his new club (although he doesn't have one yet), which is rumored to be Wolfsburg if McClaren is out. Would work out nice for us, hopefully he can take Atouba with him.

[SE6Ajacied]

Just goes to show how much we know!

Indeed. Looks like he can join Marcus Rosenberg as another player who didn't make it and didn't last the season after I'd decided to have his name on the back of my shirt Oleguer should really be on that list too although in fairness to me I picked him as a left winger rather than as a defender....

[bluedaddy19]

i will somewhat disagree with you all... the player is not the only one who can be wrong and too much an individual

you dont lose suarez for 7 and play like shit all over the field, then scapegoat the leading scorer in the league as the problem

he isnt supposed to like being dropped, and while de boer's change has been somewhat successful (home draw with NEC anyone?), we are in no position to go flushing highly talented players down the toilet... el hamdaoui can surely be of great use and he was NEVER given a #10 to play with in the first place, thus telling everyone how he can't play the right way in this system is bullshit

as is so often the case in recent years, this was not handled properly by management, who seems to insist on jerking the squad around repeatedly

that all being said, el hamdaoui has not exactly handled this properly, either, which will always reflect much worse on him than any coach

[bluedaddy19]

Just goes to show how much we know!

Indeed. Looks like he can join Marcus Rosenberg as another player who didn't make it and didn't last the season after I'd decided to have his name on the back of my shirt Oleguer should really be on that list too although in fairness to me I picked him as a left winger rather than as a defender....

didn't make it? he has 11 goals in 17 games

the manager is not the pope, he is not automatically right... that is just putting the coach above the club, which is no different than doing so for a player

this situation is being handled very poorly

[Orange14]

the manager is not the pope, he is not automatically right... that is just putting the coach above the club, which is no different than doing so for a player

this situation is being handled very poorly

I agree with you on the first point, but we really don't know what was said between de Boer and El Hamdaoui (and may never know). Clearly de Boer wants a different tactical set up than Jol was using. It is up to the player to adapt to what the new manager wants, not the other way around. I do think he's a good player and can play for Ajax; we will see if the relationship gets patched up.

[Cedric]

The poor man was benched once as far as I know. And wether he's right or wrong, the coach is still above the player - and that doesn't make him bigger than the club. Now if El Hamdaoui can't live with that...

[SE6Ajacied]

Just goes to show how much we know!

Indeed. Looks like he can join Marcus Rosenberg as another player who didn't make it and didn't last the season after I'd decided to have his name on the back of my shirt Oleguer should really be on that list too although in fairness to me I picked him as a left winger rather than as a defender....

didn't make it? he has 11 goals in 17 games

the manager is not the pope, he is not automatically right... that is just putting the coach above the club, which is no different than doing so for a player

Agreed, the manager is not God either and there could be pages written about who's will "should" prevail but the fact is that the team manager is generally the one who decides who's in the team, who stays at the club and who is allowed to leave (or pushed). If the fall out is as suggested then I suspect El H rather than De Boer will leave. My main point anyway was that he may not last the whole season, not that he was either a good or bad player.

This does seem like a major sulk if all the above is correct.

[bluedaddy19]

Agreed, the manager is not God either and there could be pages written about who's will "should" prevail but the fact is that the team manager is generally the one who decides who's in the team, who stays at the club and who is allowed to leave (or pushed). If the fall out is as suggested then I suspect El H rather than De Boer will leave. My main point anyway was that he may not last the whole season, not that he was either a good or bad player.

This does seem like a major sulk if all the above is correct.

well, here's my problem with it from what i do know: de boer was quite dismissive publicly about the player, without ever actually giving him the chance to adapt... no? he just walked in and immediately el hamdaoui - again, let's not forget at the top of the league goal chart and certainly no one-dimensional forward - was unwanted and lacked this and that

even if the entire decision is sound and the entire problem is of el hamdaoui's acceptance, there is still a right and wrong way to go about doing something

in short: i don't like how this was done at all, and i am not even remotely convinced yet that it is a sound decision for the club... in fact, it kinda seems rash and misplaced to me... but i could be wrong, too :D

[SPL]

Either El H or Suarez will have to go as Ajax have now gone back to proper Ajax style ie 2 wingers
and a proper no 9 . Sulejmani is playing well and imo can only get better if kept at right wing . Suarez
will play on the left but I do not see El H playing the old fashioned no 9 . Should add I don't think Siem is a no 9 either.

The way El H has reacted is that of a spoilt brat and I think his days are numbered.

[kezme44]

i really hope the club and el h can resolve this situation. would not like to see him leave

[pizza 5]

Get Rid.This guy failed at Derby County,who does he think he is,he aint gonna set our world on fire.....

[Orange14]

Just saw a Tweet that Seville may be interested in El Hamdaoui. Interesting if it's true but the real question is how much we can get from him. Mido is a capable substitute but the bigger question is whether Bodul will ever be worth anything and the progress of Castillion.

[kezme44]

i'd say 8.5 million euro