Maarten Stekelenburg

[acab]

Come on, Ajax is still in competition to have the best defense for the second season in a row.

Which is copletely unexplainable to me But stanger things happen every day...

[Van basten]

So he's going to ManU?

[Philippe]

Reports say today that there still is a small chance for Maarten to join ManU.

[afcajax73]

He said himself that there has been no contact from Man United, and that Ajax has put a "very good" offer for him to stay.. I can not however see this being the case. I also think its about time Vermeer got a real good shot at being our #1.

[Blind3]

From Sporting Life website :

FERGIE CONFIRMS DE GEA DEAL

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Manchester United will sign Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David De Gea this summer.

The Red Devils have been scouring Europe to find a replacement for veteran shot-stopper Edwin van der Sar, who will retire after Saturday's UEFA Champions League final with Barcelona.

Talented Spanish youngster De Gea has long been linked with a move to Old Trafford and has won Ferguson's vote ahead of other reported targets such as Ajax's Maarten Stekelenburg and Schalke's Manuel Neuer.

It is understood aa deal between the Red Devils and Atletico is in place, with a fee to be in the region of 21million euros (£18.3million) with additional add-ons.

And Ferguson feels that the 20-year-old is the ideal man to fill the giant void which will be left by the exit of veteran Dutchman Van der Sar this summer.

The Scot told Sky Sports News: "We've been working on it for quite a while, we identified him a while back as one we should go for.

"He's a young goalkeeper, very quick, with good composure and presence.

"He's an outstanding replacement for Edwin van der Sar.

"We were looking for someone with the same types of qualities. One great quality Edwin always had was his composure and organisational ability.

"David De Gea is very similar that way."

[Orange14]

From Sporting Life website :

FERGIE CONFIRMS DE GEA DEAL


"He's a young goalkeeper, very quick, with good composure and presence.

"He's an outstanding replacement for Edwin van der Sar.

"We were looking for someone with the same types of qualities. One great quality Edwin always had was his composure and organisational ability.

"David De Gea is very similar that way."

Substitute the name Tim Howard and you can probably find a similar quote. De Gea is no better than the third best keeper in Spain though he is quite young still. Howard transferred over when he was 22 or 23 and Sir Alex quickly grew dissatisfied. Too bad Maarten didn't end up there as Ajax are now his best route to CL football as all the other big teams have proven keepers.

[Dubbel]

Don't know about you guys but what I read into this is; "Stekelenburg is going to stay at Ajax so Manchester settled for the next best option".

[ofey]

Think Maarten is going to go the way of Edwin. When its time to leave, Maarten will go to Italy, prove himself and end up at United when De Gea flops.

I've watched alot of Maarten and De Gea and I can say there's next to nothing between them. I suspect United would have had a whisker in deciding between the 2. Edwin would have talked up Maarten for sure but I think Maarten playing in the Eridivisie counted against him. The 6 yr age gap between the 2 probably edged DeGea into the better long term investment. Though someone so young would lack experience at the highest level. United's number 1s are alternating things. Think back now:

Bailey (success)
Leighton (flop)
Schmeichel (success)
Bosnich (flop)
Barthez (relative success)
Howard (flop)
Van der Sar (success)

So:
De Gea (flop)
Steklenberg (success)

And we get Maarten for another year! *yay*

[Tom_]

How could you forget Massimo Taibi (a.k.a. the 'Blind Venetian')?

[afcajax73]

Think Maarten is going to go the way of Edwin. When its time to leave, Maarten will go to Italy, prove himself and end up at United when De Gea flops.

I've watched alot of Maarten and De Gea and I can say there's next to nothing between them. I suspect United would have had a whisker in deciding between the 2. Edwin would have talked up Maarten for sure but I think Maarten playing in the Eridivisie counted against him. The 6 yr age gap between the 2 probably edged DeGea into the better long term investment. Though someone so young would lack experience at the highest level. United's number 1s are alternating things. Think back now:

Bailey (success)
Leighton (flop)
Schmeichel (success)
Bosnich (flop)
Barthez (relative success)
Howard (flop)
Van der Sar (success)

So:
De Gea (flop)
Steklenberg (success)

And we get Maarten for another year! *yay*

Who says hes not going else where? im still convinced hes going to leave.

[Ayman]

Im glad he didnt go to Man utd, I cant stand them or their fans. I would like to see Stek go to Villareal.

[ajaxcolombia]

Didn't know where to post this but I believe it cocnerns Stekelenburg. Here's an interesting analysis in tegen11 of the Eeredivise defensive eprfomances. Inter of shots allowed, whether on target or not, Aajax were third behind philips and twente. However, in terms of goals allowed per shot on target ajax were overwhelmingly the best team. Of course I don't think any of us need fancy statistics to know that Stekelnburg i very valuable to our team. And those statistics also include games that pizza and vermeer played.

This is the link: http://11tegen11.wordpress.com/2011/05/ ... redivisie/.

[ofey]

How could you forget Massimo Taibi (a.k.a. the 'Blind Venetian')?

Taibi wasn't signed as a #1. He was to give Fergie abit of an option in goal.
Bosnich and Van der Gouw were pretty much competing for the #1 and because neither of them were going very well, Fergie added to that competition.

[Orange14]

There was a report on the ESPN Soccernet Transfer Blog yesterday that St. Maarten of the Keepers' agent was talking with Roma about a move there. Too bad as he deserves much better. I guess ManU is pretty much out of the question right now.

[rjf1]

There was a report on the ESPN Soccernet Transfer Blog yesterday that St. Maarten of the Keepers' agent was talking with Roma about a move there. Too bad as he deserves much better. I guess ManU is pretty much out of the question right now.

That sounds like a move just for the sake of moving -- why would he want to go there?

[Orange14]

There was a report on the ESPN Soccernet Transfer Blog yesterday that St. Maarten of the Keepers' agent was talking with Roma about a move there. Too bad as he deserves much better. I guess ManU is pretty much out of the question right now.

That sounds like a move just for the sake of moving -- why would he want to go there?

Financial Security (more money than he can get here).

[aveslacker]

I don't mind keeping him, but realistically he should probably move on. The club will get a fair chunk of change and we already have Vermeer, who will be more than good enough.

I will miss him, though.

[rjf1]

I don't mind keeping him, but realistically he should probably move on. The club will get a fair chunk of change and we already have Vermeer, who will be more than good enough.

Agreed -- but surely he can do better than Roma.

[ajaxcolombia]

Please don't misuderstand what I'm gonna say, I believe Maarten is a fatastic keeper, probably the best yes. However, I do feel that he is the one "star player" that we are in perfect conditions to part with, given we alread have a player with almost the same level of skill and experience in Vermeer. His transfer fee could be a great economical boost for the team without hurting are competitivity so directly. My opinion.

[Kowalczyk]

It appears that Ajax will be talking to AS Roma this morning to finalize the deal. Sounds like it's for real (is that why Stekelenburg didn't play against Brøndby, yesterday evening...?). 6 million euros reportedly offered.

More news when it happens...

K.

[afcajax73]

Its reported that roma are in town today to finalise the deal.

[rjf1]

Only 6 mil? Isn't that a huge comedown from the asking price? Why would they accept 6 mil?

[afcajax73]

I believe the asking price was originaly 10m, with ajax not budging. so 6m is a bit off what we were after. Although, if you think about it logically, he only has until 2012 on his contract, which would mean he could potentially leave for free as soon as January. Id sooner take 6m now than nothing or near nothing in 6 months.

[Orange14]

Keepers don't command the same high transfer fees as field players and €10M for St. Maarten was always a little optimistic unless it was one of the big six clubs bidding for him. The only club that really needed a keeper was ManU and they opted for De Gea (who might not even be their #1 according to reports). Bayern got Neuer and from then on it was a question of whether anyone would come in with an offer. Roma are a decent club and there are worse places than Rome to play football (many!). I hope that this comes through and that maybe we can get an extra €1M.

BTW, I saw a tweet that said Janssen will take over the captain's armband! Does this mean that they expect Vertonghen to leave? I thought he would be the logical choice.

[afcajax73]

Keepers don't command the same high transfer fees as field players and €10M for St. Maarten was always a little optimistic unless it was one of the big six clubs bidding for him. The only club that really needed a keeper was ManU and they opted for De Gea (who might not even be their #1 according to reports). Bayern got Neuer and from then on it was a question of whether anyone would come in with an offer. Roma are a decent club and there are worse places than Rome to play football (many!). I hope that this comes through and that maybe we can get an extra €1M.

BTW, I saw a tweet that said Janssen will take over the captain's armband! Does this mean that they expect Vertonghen to leave? I thought he would be the logical choice.

I'd be very suprised if Vertonghen didn't have the arm band.