Ajaxtalk

Drop Bogarde and bring back John van den Brom or Sonny Silooy.

Rafy has just gone to Real Madrid. I didn't hear a fee but just saw him doing the obligatory ball juggling for the press on Setanta.

I wonder if he'll get in the same team as Sneijder and whether they can play together...??

Edit: Ok, so when I went to look for a fee I found out that this was old news and even that we'd discussed it here last week . Anyway, something new - Pius Ikedia is back in Holland, at RBC Roosendaal, transfered from Metalurg Donesk from Ukraine.

I saw Raffie in action v. Eintracht Frankfurt on FSC last night. He looked dangerous with almost every touch. He didn't score , at least in the 3/4 of the match I saw, but EF were definitely under threat and Raffie was a huge reason. He was wearing # 28 btw.

Valencia want to loan out Hedweges Maduro. The new coach does not rate him. I think he should have stayed with us but the grass is always greener.

I note Utrecht do not want to take Jordy Brouwer on loan from Liverpool , presumably they do not think he will play regularly. This kid left our youth team in Jan 2007 , and was given a 4 year contract by Liverpool.I should add that he had not played in our reserves and we probably would only have given him a 2 year deal at most. He has spent a year and a half in their reserves and will probably disappear into the lower regions of english footy.

SPL schreef:I should add that he had not played in our reserves and we probably would only have given him a 2 year deal at most.

Ajax did not offer him a contract, and didn't want to. Van Geel was even surprised that Liverpool was interested.

Regards Brouwer Cedric is correct.

When Liverpool came in for him in Jan 2007 we were not prepared to offer him anything. We would have waited to the end of the season when his youth period was up and might possibly have offered him 2 years as he was the A1 leading scorer.

This reminds me that in World Soccer this month there was a good review of the new Dutch season but a quote from Van Geel regards the number of teenagers being kidnapped by English clubs. He said they promise our yougsters the world but don't tell them 9 out of 10 fail.Brouwer is one of about 5/6 kids listed and will probably be in the 9 bracket who fail.

Anyone wanna know what Kuffour will do next...?

He's off to Russia.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/S ... ?ID=149223

K.

Happy Birthday to our friend, and my kids' hero, John O'Brien!!!

He was born in 1977, which by my math (always suspect) makes him 31 years young. A birthday is always good day to reflect, so let's look back on those great days when John wore the red and white of Ajax!

http://www.ajax-usa.com/team/j_obrien/

Cheers,
- jim

ajaxusa schreef:Happy Birthday to our friend, and my kids' hero, John O'Brien!!!

Cheers,
- jim

Real shame about the persistant injury problem as he could have been one of the top US players. He also set the stage for Michael Bradley and the others who have gone over to Euro teams at a young age.

Poor Kuffour, even the lower Russian sides don't want him that bad...

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/S ... ?ID=149223

Michael Krohn-Dehli has been offloaded to Brøndby IF, one more off the list.

ajaxusa schreef:Happy Birthday to our friend, and my kids' hero, John O'Brien!!!

He was born in 1977, which by my math (always suspect) makes him 31 years young. A birthday is always good day to reflect, so let's look back on those great days when John wore the red and white of Ajax!

http://www.ajax-usa.com/team/j_obrien/

Cheers,
- jim

I remember how nice he was to take time out of his day talk with us on that trip. Really impressive. It's a shame about his injuries.

John and Joe Didulica were the epitome of class when I met them in 01,02, and 03. Happy birthday John, a class gentleman off the pitch and a class player on it !!

The latest on Edgar Davids is that he appears to be readying a return to Serie A with Genoa, who are awaiting the results of his physical. Since he isn't currently contracted to a club, he's not under the same transfer window rules.

2 more of our youths making the grade. Vito Wormgoor, made his Utrecht debut last weekend and 17 year old Rafael Uiterloo, a striker, came on as sub.

Uiterloo played mainly in our A2 youth team last season and in fact only appeared in half the A1 games , nearly all as sub. Had he stayed at Ajax he would now be getting a regular game in the A1 instead he has gone straight into Utrecht first team.

It appears we have lost 2 potential talents here!!

Talents for Utrecht. It's something else of a talent for Ajax. And I guess that if they were that good, they wouldn't have left (for whatever reason), and wouldn't have joined such a club...

Cedric_AeF schreef:Talents for Utrecht. It's something else of a talent for Ajax. And I guess that if they were that good, they wouldn't have left (for whatever reason), and wouldn't have joined such a club...

Not necessarily. John O'Brien was loaned to Utrecht and ended up playing with the first team.

But as you mention, it was a loan and I think it's quite different. I mean: when you loan a youth player, it's mainly because you think he has a (potential) future in your first team once he has gained experience.

Maybe those players are part of the new policy of "really long term loan" (Lindgren, Sno, ...)

Stanley Menzo, who coached FC Volendam last season, but decided not to pen a new deal in spite of the fact that he had taken them to the Eredivisie, has now signed a contract at Cambuur Leeuwarden (who sacked their coach only a few weeks into the season).

K.

Interesting move. I just wonder if he felt that taking a modest club up was one thing, but keeping them up , and keeping your job, was something else entirely. With a club like Cambuur Leeuwarden, the pressure isn't quite the same. Definitely given me reason to check CL's progress.

Markus Rosenberg scored Werder Bremen's opening and final goals in the Bremen sides 2:5 win at Bayern's Allianz Arena. Bremen surged to 0:5 lead before Bayern replied with two late goals.

News on Steven Pienaar.

Footballer arrested over Assault!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/mers ... 642447.stm

Latest Edgar Davids rumor, from Reuters via ESPNsoccernet:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... et&cc=5901

My father, who was born and raised in Rio but has ilved in San Francisco for 50 years, was a Flamengo supporter as a youth.

mako schreef:Latest Edgar Davids rumor, from Reuters via ESPNsoccernet:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... et&cc=5901

My father, who was born and raised in Rio but has ilved in San Francisco for 50 years, was a Flamengo supporter as a youth.

I wonder if it will happen. He's been out so far this season, as far as I know hasn't really trained with anyone, so I'm not sure we'll see him again at this point. I guess he just didn't impress the lower division clubs in the Jaap Stam Testimonial

It also sounds like that's what he wants, but not necessarily what's going to happen in reality. I think it's more likely he'll end up as a high-paid player in a low level league (A-League/MLS/Qatar). I've always admired him and I hope he does keep playing, he could be a decent attraction for a league like MLS.

I thought you chaps might like to hear about Sean and Ryan's very nice day. While the rest of America was going absolutely mad at the shopping mall (really people... have you NO shame?)... We were at Venice pier catching up with none other than Mr. John O'Brien. Check it out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fireballs/ ... 342288423/

Needless to say, JOB was cool as punch, really nice to the boys. He's going to college again, playing some occasional soccer just for fun, and doing some charitable work for Soccer Without Borders. In all, a great day, and once again I have to say... JOB is first class.