New Players for Ajax

[Frans]

I always thought Maduro seemed fairly level-headed, so I can't imagine him causing dressing room problems.

Also Gabri is going on 30, while Maduro is 23, so is more of a long term option.

I wouldn't be disappointed if Maduro came back. That said, I have nothing against Gabri either, so if he stays, that's good too.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

something tells me this has to do with home sickness Gabri might want to go back to Spain and i'm sure Maduro would love to come back to Holland.

[Blind3]

I prefer Gabri to Maduro. Or bring Maduro back, let him learn from Gabri, and then Gabri goes when his time is up.

[orange goblin]

Who will replace KJH?

looking at what we have at home: Cvitanich was the topscorer of Argentinian league and for sure deserves a chance now that he's fit.
suarez has shown that he can fill the position of central striker. but obvioulsy this is not enough.

looking at what we have in our youth system, I am a little optimistic: bodul really seems to have the skills and castillion is a great prospect. at least one of them can be added to the A-selection. but obviously this would be - once again - not enough.

SO

we have to look at the market again.
you all know the names that are circulating: marcus berg from groningen (maybe not a top class but a hard worker and a good goalscorer), ricky van wolsfinkel from vitesse (I only read that he is really promising) and the senegalese Baye Djiby Fall from danish side Ob Odense.

Rumours even say that Blind is in Denmark to contract him. well, I don't know why, but looking to his highlights I would not dislike this solution. he is young but not too inexperienced. has some moves that could remember the hunter. is strong and tall. who knows!

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=YwVrZQjYiRw

mister Blind, for what concerns me: bring Fall and let him fight with Cvitanich for a place.
and we turn the page once again.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

Djiby Fall reminds me of a little lad called Kanu....an exotic choice.....but i like it lets get him ASAP

[orange goblin]

danny blind is quoted saying that we will buy, but not necessarily a central forward next weeks. eljero elia?
blind says also that we have invested so much money in dario cvitanich and I see between the lines that maybe also darko bodul will have a chance as second choice.
Anyway I am not so sure that fall would not have been a good move. as far as today ajax has not a typical, tall and powerful striker,

[SPL]

Castillion is a very tall typical Ajax striker but probably a year away from being in the first team. Bodul should be promoted and give Cvitanich a chance. I assumed when we bought him it was a replacement for KJH.

[Over Pasanens Head]

Our priority must be for a defender and a midfield playmaker. We have enough attacking options at our disposal.

[Michael_B]

Midfield playmakers also with Aissati, De Jong and Sarpong. We need a striker behind Cvitanich. Preferably a young one, like van Wolfswinkel or Arnautovic.

[DanK]

I tend to lean on the side of not buying a new striker. Surely we have enough talent in the squad to fill the gap.

[Kowalczyk]

Midfield playmakers also with Aissati, De Jong and Sarpong. We need a striker behind Cvitanich. Preferably a young one, like van Wolfswinkel or Arnautovic.

Yes, I agree.

In the current squad we only have one proper centre forward, known as a 'goalgetter' (Cvitanich). If he gets injured or anything, we have move wingers (Suárez, Sulejmani) or midfielders (Sno) to the centre. We require an extra centre forward.

Midfield playmaker: not really necessary if you ask me. Aissati is one. Sulejmani and Sarpong can play there. We also have plenty of more or less 'defensive' midfielders (Gabri, Lindgren, Sno, Vertonghen, Urby, etc.), so I don't really see a problem in midfield.

Defenders: yes, but right now I think we have enough options for the centre (Van der Wiel, Oleguer, Vermaelen and, if necessary, Vertonghen or Lindgren). What we need, if you ask me, are fullbacks. I kind of like Silva myself, but Van Basten clearly doesn't rate him.

A real right fullback, a real left fullback and a real centre forward.

My two cents, anyway.

K.

[Over Pasanens Head]

Cannot agree with you on this one Ko. Our midfield creativity is very poor and has been since Sneijder left. The players mentioned are still all unproven and as such I still feel that we need a proven playmaker.

[gordonvandekamp]

I think our midfield is pretty strong, but hasn't been able to show it due to injury this year. None are the caliber of Sneijder, but I think when fit Aisatti/de Jong can handle the playmaking role (I also think Gabri or Sulejmani could do it).

I'd still like to see us get another central defender, a Stam type that we never replaced. Maybe another fullback, although I agree with Ko and would like to see Silva given more of a chance.

As far as replacing Huntelaar, I hadn't seen any of Djiby Fall until the video posted above, and I agree he does look a bit like Kanu. If we do purchase a replacement, I'd like to see either him or van Wolfskwinkel, whoever is cheapest. I'd however favor Cvitanich over either at the moment once fit, he's barely had a chance to do anything this season.

I'd really like to see us give some youths a chance more than anything, even over the purchases. I think we have some promising youths that are about ready to step up if given the chance. Particularly Bodul, Castillion, Zeegelaar if we don't buy a replacement. We really need to get rid of ten Cate's signing's first, but I think we'd be better off over the next few years if we start playing some more youngsters at a high level.

[SPL]

Cvitanich was the leading scorer in Argentina last season and was obviously bought with the sale of KJH in mind.I think we probably need another striker and cannot rely on Bodul , who is only just making his way.
Like the sound of Van Wolfswinkel, I know he is young and getting playing time at Vitesse and what a great name.We shall see.

I too think we need to improve the full backs but when fit we seem to have about 12 midfielders.Sulejamni, Aissati , Sarpong and even De Jong
can fill the playmaker roll.

By the way why has de Jong not made the bench in the last 3/4 games!!

Not sure if Castillion or Zeegelaar are ready just yet but Goossens is having a good season and scoring goals for the reserves.I think it is time for him to move up.

[orange goblin]

Also Alderweireld seems near to a chance..he was costantly in the squad in the last weeks, so I agree that at CB we should be ok: oleguer, van der wiel, vermaelen, vertonghen, alderweireld. and even sno, lindgren and anita (ok, on this one maybe I am not so sure) could play there if necessary. so a good defender is more than welcome, but not a priority.

creativity in midfield: we had not the chance to see aissati, and sulejmani can also play as a creative midfielder, not even mentioning that sarpong and de jong are very promising (the second is a little in disgrace looking at VB choices, but anyway). we are covered enough.

so the problem is at CF: obvious that cvitanich deserves a chance, but if he gets ill we are pretty f....d. suarez is good everywhere you put him in the attack, but still I am worried by the fact that we miss a proper central forward, fisically strong, a pivot with good feet.
yes, the long term answer maybe is bodul.
but I would prefer a market move in the next weeks, and I am not so sure that buying another type of offensive player (quoting danny blind) is a good option for us.

[Michael_B]

Alderweireld is not near a chance and that's a good thing. Not so talented.

[Orange14]

I'm still trying to figure out who our left fullback is! Urby started the season there and we know all about the problems he caused. Vertonghen then moved from midfield to left back and then to midfield and in the past two games central defnese with Vermalen at the left fullback slot. Maybe Marco has a cunning plan but I for sure can't figure it out. What we need is consistency in the back four. We have also seen Oleguer and van der Wiel flip positions on occasion as well. I think if we look at our goals allowed figure (taking away the aberation at Heerenveen) we've done much better than last year.

We also have enough defensive midfielders and as I've noted before we really don't have a playmaker who is consistent. I don't know if Cvitanich will work out as the striker or not. I'm sure he was brought in with the idea that KJH would be leaving after this season. Well this is happening sooner than that so Marco has to see what he is made of. Suarez won't last the season playing in the middle. He's been limping around during the last two matches because of all the chops at his ankles and needs to stay out on the wing.

I'm also unsure whether this team is suited to a 4-3-3 with KJH gone. Maybe we need to go to a 4-4-2 with both Sulejmani and Suarez up front but not quite in the middle of the field.

[Blind3]

I'd like to see a center forward, tall center back, and a right fullback.

[The Purple Cow]

I think we need two full-backs, as highest priority. I think Silva's career at Ajax ended with his catastrophic performance against Aston Villa where Ashley Young ripped him a new one.

We have a couple of decent centre-backs, but I wouldn't some more depth there, if we have the spare cash.

Midfield, we seem to have a plethora of excellent holding midfielders (Gabri, Enoh, Vertonghen etc etc) but a lack of creativity. I wouldn't mind some more creativity - though that can wait tlll the summer.

Attack, I agree that Cvitanich deserves his chance, but we need back-up, we've completely lacked presence in the penalty area since K-j and Dario have been injured.

Wingers, Suarez has said he's happy to stay at Ajax until the summer, but if an offer comes in from a warmer climate in January, he might pressurise Ajax to let him go. So we need to start looking for a replacement soon - Elia? It would be nice to have a winger that can go past defenders, and who could hit a decent cross.

I remain to be convinced by Suljemani, but hopefully he will step-up now.

There's a lot of dead wood we need to off-load. I'm guessing the fact that Manucharyan didn't get picked when everyone else was injured means that MvB doesn't rate him. Also Kennedy, Leonardo, Rommedahl - see you later, guys.

[Michael_B]

Creative midfielders we have: Sarpong, De Jong and Aissati. A winger we need, I would advice Arnautovic from Twente or Elia, also from Twente.

For our new striker I would like to see van Wolfswinkel come from Vitesse. Talented young striker. Cvitanich is our first striker.

Furthermore we definetely need some defenders. A killer like Douglas from Twente or Ivanovic from Chelsea. Also a new wingback to replace Silva. Urby will go back to left wingback asap. He did allright there at the beginning of the season.

[aveslacker]

Why do we have to raid the eredivisie for talent? The other clubs have already figured it out - they'll sell a player to us a ridiculously high price and then turn around and buy another player from outside of Holland for a fraction of the price.

Instead of getting raped by the Groningens and the Twentes of the world, how about we just go and sign players from outside of Holland at a cheaper price? Cut out the middleman.

Don't we have a scouting department for that kind of thing?

[paladinby]

May be we should simpy sign some scouts from Groningen and Heerenveen instead of buying their players every year for loads of cash.

[jackson]

Creative midfielders we have: Sarpong, De Jong and Aissati. A winger we need, I would advice Arnautovic from Twente or Elia, also from Twente.

For our new striker I would like to see van Wolfswinkel come from Vitesse. Talented young striker. Cvitanich is our first striker.

Furthermore we definetely need some defenders. A killer like Douglas from Twente or Ivanovic from Chelsea. Also a new wingback to replace Silva. Urby will go back to left wingback asap. He did allright there at the beginning of the season.

Douglas would be great for us but last time around didn't Twente want way too much for him? Also, why do you think Urby is going back immediately to lb again? Nothing in the last several team selections would indicate that. But I hope your right.

[gordonvandekamp]

I think most those players mentioned, Elia, Douglas, Berg, Wielart earlier would be good fits for us as they're good players. I think we'll end up paying way too much for them if we want them, though, simply because as others have said, that's what we've done over the last 5 years. The selling clubs know it and will jack the price up because of it.

I agree, we need to buy the scouts from Groningen/Heerenveen/Twente and save some money in the end. Who's actually been signed from outside the Netherlands and made an impact in the first team over the last few years (and isn't already a 30-something with little future)? We signed Enoh and Cvitanich last summer, but Cvitanich has been injured and Enoh was from Cape Town so I don't know how much scouting went into him. All the other players have been from Eredivisie teams (Huntelaar/Suarez/Silva/Lindgren/Sulejmani/Aisatti/Leonardo/Kennedy).

I think we really need to start scouting in Belgium more. It's close and seemingly has a lot of (cheaper?) talent these days. Doesn't seem like we've been too invested there apart from Vermaelen/Vertonghen and Alderwield recently.

On that note, I'd like to see us go after someone like Steven Defour of Liege for an attacking midfielder. I think there were some rumors about him in the summer, but they didn't seem to go anywhere and died out. It's a start towards that kind of scouting and signing, although we'd likely be competing against some EPL teams for him. That's the kind of quality I think our scouts should be able to find and get ahold of a few years earlier in their development to secure them from being tempted by bigger moves.

[The Purple Cow]

Elia is on his way to Arsenal according to the English press. He's bound and determined to play in the E.P.L.