New Players for Ajax

[Jari Litmanen]

17 years isn't a kid? Doesn't exactly sound like a grizzled veteran to me .

17 IS still a kid, but hey, atleast we're not buying them at 12-13 like some other clubs do :)

[Orange14]

Great !!! Now we're being linked with comedians who've been dead for twenty - seven years.

And he was a pretty decent high school football player (American style); I think he was offered a couple of college scholarships to play.

[bluedaddy19]

argentine paper clarin says we are after young bocas playmaker nicolas gaitan (i suppose he would replace cvitanich, who is close to joining pachuca)

[Blind3]

Nicolas Gaitan is a very talented player. I've seen him on TV lots (FSC) and twice in friendlies in person. Just not sure where he would slot in in a side which already has Enoh, De Zeeuw, Aisatti , and Donald seeing playing time in the center of the park .

[SPL]

Not much talk of us buying many players with Jol appearing happy that we have Castillion and Suk as spare strikers.

We have enough midfielders but I am concerned about defenders. Silva has gone, Wielaert on his way plus Ogararu also , which leaves just Oleguer spare with Atouba , (who today has been announced will be fit in February). Blind is in the squad at present and has played mainly central defender this seaon at Jong level but he s going out on loan.

The back 4 has played ok but cracks were appearing v Utrecht and Anderlecht. We cannot enter the second half of the season with just one spare defender, who is not very good imo (Oleguer).


Looking to the summer I feel V dWiel will go and maybe even Vertonghen so do we start rebuilding now ??

[Over Pasanens Head]

Looking to the summer I feel V dWiel will go and maybe even Vertonghen so do we start rebuilding now ??

As we did in 2003, 2004, 2005. 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and probably will do in 2010, 2011 ..............?

Lets accept that we aren't very good and won't be very good until we have another great crop of 5 or 6 youngsters come through in the same year. Lets just enjoy as much as we can along the way as come one day Ajax will rise again.

[rjf1]

...Lets accept that we aren't very good and won't be very good until we have another great crop of 5 or 6 youngsters come through in the same year...

Sorry, I can't accept that. I have to ask myself: Why is it that PSV can consistently field a better team than Ajax? Do they have a great crop of 5 or 6 youngsters come through every year? How is that the so-called "small" teams like AZ and Twente can field better teams than we have? Certainly not because they have a great crop of 5 or 6 youngsters come through every year. Why is it that players leaving La Liga and the EPL wind up going to places like Fenerbahce rather than coming to Ajax? Why is it that players who are standouts when they play for other teams are only marginal when they come to Ajax?

IMO there is something flawed in the way we scout and recruit players, and in the way we use them after they get here -- maybe they don't perform as well because they don't function as well under the Ajax system -- but then we shouldn't have recruited them to begin with.

Until we solve the problem in the players we recruit and the way we use them, waiting for a great crop of 5 or 6 youngsters to come through in the same year is like waiting for Godot. And the way things are nowadays, if such a crop were to appear, they'd be off to greener pastures after a year or two anyway.

In the meantime, I can agree with the sentiment that we should accept the fact that we are a third or fourth place team who will be extremely lucky to make it past the second round of the Europa league, and enjoy the rest of the season supporting the team for what it is.

[saddlerian]

Well..are we going to go for him for a 6 month loan? http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slu ... &type=lgns

[Cedric]

Jol wants to put Pantelic on the bench? I really don't know where Huntelaar would play otherwise.
Well, I don't trust that news at all and I hope that Ajax have other priorities than getting a goalscorer. 53 goals in 17 games is not that bad?

[Blind3]

Pantelic no sooner gets comfortable and begins scoring at a decent clip then we sit him ? No wonder Ajax has issues . I enjoyed KJH during his time at Ajax, but lets move on .

[rjf1]

Pantelic no sooner gets comfortable and begins scoring at a decent clip then we sit him ? No wonder Ajax has issues . I enjoyed KJH during his time at Ajax, but lets move on .

Agreed. IMO Huntelaar isn't the type of forward we need at this point. The way I see it, the problem we have right now is that the opposition pushes our forwards around too easily. What we need is an Emile Hesky type forward who is strong enough to fight off the opposing defenders and can hold the ball and set up our other guys.

[ofey]

Honestly I think KJH coming back could be a good thing. Goals are needed to try and assure Champions League qualification or pre-qualification as the case might be.

It would also point out a fact to some of the players here that flying the nest too early may not be a good thing. KJH has never WON an Eridivisie title in his time at Ajax and all those who haven't (Babel, Maduro, DeJong and De Mul come to mind) have done nothing significant since leaving.

Those who have been part of a title winning squad like Ibrahimovic, Chivu, Maxwell, Van Der Vaart and Sneijder have won titles elsewhere (Heitinga and Pienaar being exceptions to this).

So success domestically should be a pre-requisite to leaving. Players should be more aware of that.

IMHO it would be better for all parties concerned if Babel, Hunterlaar and to an extent Heitinga (who is not a first choice at Everton) to came back. Win 2011's Eridivisie and played in the Champions League in 2012 together. That Ajax squad if do well can then justifiably be broken up.

Steklenberg; VdWiel, HEITINGA, Vertonghen, Emmanuelson; Enoh, De Zeeuw, DeJong; Suarez, BABEL & KJH.
Bench: Alderweirald, Blind, Suliemani, Pantelic & Vermeer.

What a great side that would be.

[jamcocteau]

IMHO it would be better for all parties concerned if Babel, Hunterlaar and to an extent Heitinga (who is not a first choice at Everton) to came back. Win 2011's Eridivisie and played in the Champions League in 2012 together. That Ajax squad if do well can then justifiably be broken up.

Steklenberg; VdWiel, HEITINGA, Vertonghen, Emmanuelson; Enoh, De Zeeuw, DeJong; Suarez, BABEL & KJH.
Bench: Alderweirald, Blind, Suliemani, Pantelic & Vermeer.

What a great side that would be.

Have to diasagree strongly with what you have written. All 3 chose to leave the club of their own free will - nobody forced them out the door. Ajax are not going to buy them back becuase of the fees involved and would have to take them back on loan. Not a very good example to the youth players attemtping to break through if we get these players back just because their careers are going nowhere. Ajax should not be used as some sort of rehabilitation centre for failures who are probably thinking more of their chances of getting to the World Cup in South Africa than the future of Ajax.

One of the reasons I think we have struggled over the years, is not just because of bad signings and demise of quality players coming through our academy, has been our change of management every season or less. I personally like Jol and hope he is giving time to build his own team at the club as he is still having to use the legacy at the moment of previous managers. The job of sorting out Ajax is no short term fix as the club putting it bluntly is in decline all the way through from youths to first team and has been for years. The 2 most successful clubs in last 20 years in England - Man Utd and Arsenal - have had managers who have been there for many years and in Fergusons case it took him 8 years to land the EPL but once they won one they have rolled in. Am not saying give Jol 8 years but he must be given time to stamp some sort of authority on the club in terms of signing own players and rebuilding our youth system. If he fails with his own built team and not a team he has inherited then he can go.

I sincerely hope he tells Huntelaar, Babel etc to take a hike. If they want to get to South Africa then they should earn the right through the clubs they left Ajax to move onto etc. I want to see players wearing the shirt of Ajax who want to be here for the love of the club and not for their own selfish reasons. As much as I liked all 3 you mentioned during their time at the club, they should not be part of any future at the club unless they sign permanant deals.

[aveslacker]

IMHO it would be better for all parties concerned if Babel, Hunterlaar and to an extent Heitinga (who is not a first choice at Everton) to came back. Win 2011's Eridivisie and played in the Champions League in 2012 together. That Ajax squad if do well can then justifiably be broken up.

Steklenberg; VdWiel, HEITINGA, Vertonghen, Emmanuelson; Enoh, De Zeeuw, DeJong; Suarez, BABEL & KJH.
Bench: Alderweirald, Blind, Suliemani, Pantelic & Vermeer.

What a great side that would be.

Have to diasagree strongly with what you have written. All 3 chose to leave the club of their own free will - nobody forced them out the door. Ajax are not going to buy them back becuase of the fees involved and would have to take them back on loan. Not a very good example to the youth players attemtping to break through if we get these players back just because their careers are going nowhere. Ajax should not be used as some sort of rehabilitation centre for failures who are probably thinking more of their chances of getting to the World Cup in South Africa than the future of Ajax.

One of the reasons I think we have struggled over the years, is not just because of bad signings and demise of quality players coming through our academy, has been our change of management every season or less. I personally like Jol and hope he is giving time to build his own team at the club as he is still having to use the legacy at the moment of previous managers. The job of sorting out Ajax is no short term fix as the club putting it bluntly is in decline all the way through from youths to first team and has been for years. The 2 most successful clubs in last 20 years in England - Man Utd and Arsenal - have had managers who have been there for many years and in Fergusons case it took him 8 years to land the EPL but once they won one they have rolled in. Am not saying give Jol 8 years but he must be given time to stamp some sort of authority on the club in terms of signing own players and rebuilding our youth system. If he fails with his own built team and not a team he has inherited then he can go.

I sincerely hope he tells Huntelaar, Babel etc to take a hike. If they want to get to South Africa then they should earn the right through the clubs they left Ajax to move onto etc. I want to see players wearing the shirt of Ajax who want to be here for the love of the club and not for their own selfish reasons. As much as I liked all 3 you mentioned during their time at the club, they should not be part of any future at the club unless they sign permanant deals.

^^^^^^^ This.

[rjf1]

...Am not saying give Jol 8 years but he must be given time to stamp some sort of authority on the club in terms of signing own players and rebuilding our youth system...

I sincerely hope he tells Huntelaar, Babel etc to take a hike. If they want to get to South Africa then they should earn the right through the clubs they left Ajax to move onto etc...

Amen to that.

[Orange14]

In reference to the last several posts, one of the key jobs of the manager is to give each player a candid evaluations of his prospects beyond Ajax. Clearly if the players want to move, the club should accomodate them. I think, however, that had someone told Babel, Heitinga, KJH, de Mul etc. that they were not good enough for the clubs they were interested in that maybe things might have turned out differently. Obviously the money does play a key role and I would be the last one to argue against the big payday for the player but they need to go into things with eyes wide open. Success as Ajax is not a guarantee of success at Madrid or Liverpool.

Agree fully with the others who note we should not take these players back.

[afcajax73]

Few rumours flying around, i personally wouldn't mind KJH or Babel back really.. and i certainly wouldn't mind Heitinga back, god knows we need some solidarity. But i do agree they should be coming back for the right reasons (i.e. not just to get in the national team).

I was thinking though the other day, would Benni McCarthy not be a decent signing? He's looking to leave for a small(ish) fee and is a proven Premier League goal scorer. Maybe getting on a bit, but i think he would be a good replacement as our main goal scorer should Suarez leave...

[ofey]

I agree that our academy has failed badly.
I look at Daley Blind and Jeffery Sarpong and think these boys have let the club down. Now there's no one coming through. Eriksen is ordinary but because the crop is so bad, the boy looks like a genius.

I just don't want us to start from scratch. Some old boys coming back might restore some order. ala Winter, Witschge, Litmanen.

Escude is 30 this year, perhaps we should bring him back to sort out the mess at the back.
Chivu will be 30 next year. Time for his swansong return? He will sort us out at the back.
3 good years from him and VdVaart will be 30, just in time for a return.

[SPL]

I think you re being a bit harsh having a go at Daley Blind. He is still only 19 and the club are at fault with him and Sarpong as both should have gone out on loan last August.The only Jong Ajax players who i think will come through are Castillion,Eriksen and Bonevacia, the rest are likely to go.Most of them are not even getting regular games with Jong Ajax so why are they here??

We do have some of the best Dutch U19 players and nearly all the best Dutch U17's with 6 under contract already.We need to clear out the dross in the first team squad and Jong Ajax squad to give these kids a chance initially in our Jong team

I do not want to see us sign loan players just so they can play in the WC. Babel pissed off at 20 for money so let him go to Birmingham , what a career move!!

If we sign anyone this month it would be a defender as Wielart Ogararu and even Oleguer could join Silva in the exit door.

[afcajax73]

If we sign anyone this month it would be a defender as Wielart Ogararu and even Oleguer could join Silva in the exit door.

but how many times have we been stung when we know a player is leaving and we didnt already sign someone to replace him. i personally think we need a replacement for suarez now, someone who can gel with the team and get scoring now.

[orange goblin]

I would add to the list of Spl (eriksen, castillion, bonevacia) also boilesen, who has still to prove himself in amsterdam but seems a good prospect being in the danish national team. don't know much 'bout jozefzoon and ebecilio, but they seem also interesting our coach (I remember an interview), and even the korean suk had nice words from both MJ and huistra.
Don't forget also that Jol seems to rate already many youngsters that came out from the academy, ie donald, de jong, anita, zeegelaar, plus alderweireld who from the start of the season has already been a regular in the starting eleven. add to them loanees such as blind, van der heijden, bodul, maybe sarpong and you will have 12-13 players of de toekomst that could make it all togheter in the first team next year, not counting "veterans" like steeks, vd wiel, vertonghen and emanuelson. all youth products!
I don't think our system has failed: it started to work a little bit again, in my opinion. the problem is that this year is totally wasted 'cause Jong Ajax has been fullfilled with too many old players that are in surplus in the first team......

ps: completely agree that we need replacements for suarez and emanuelson if they'll move in the next future. and also a defender if we get rid of oleguer, ogararu, atouba and wielaert in the next weeks/months. I feel new air at ajax, anyway, and this is positive although I am afraid we'll not win anything once again.

[Orange14]

I think you re being a bit harsh having a go at Daley Blind. He is still only 19 and the club are at fault with him and Sarpong as both should have gone out on loan last August.The only Jong Ajax players who i think will come through are Castillion,Eriksen and Bonevacia, the rest are likely to go.Most of them are not even getting regular games with Jong Ajax so why are they here??

If all three succeed it will be good. It would be interesting to look historically at the youth system to see what the average rate of success is. Three players per year moving to first team football would be an outstanding result.

Regarding the striker position, I haven't been tracking Bodul's progress while on loan. Anyone know how he is doing?

[bluedaddy19]

IMHO it would be better for all parties concerned if Babel, Hunterlaar and to an extent Heitinga (who is not a first choice at Everton) to came back...

heitinga has started 14 games in just under four months with everton, so he seems pretty first choice to me

[SPL]

Only putting this because of the name . We are interested in a19 year old Slovenian midfielder named
Rajko Rep.

[saddlerian]

Now where have we heard this before? If we want him....and if he's that good, he should have been signed BEFORE any press releases!!! that's another talent that MIGHT have slipped through the net!!!

http://www.goal.com/en/news/462/netherl ... rep-report