Ajaxtalk

Meh he was free, I remember him from his days at Spurs, and by days i mean 18 games and 1 goal lol. I dont think our search is over, but nice to have a new face at least Ajax are being proactive, BMJ must rate him somewhat, and who am I to argue with the big man?

Don't know anything about him this is from wikipedia:

Known for making things unreasonably complicated, Atouba signed for Tottenham Hotspur in June 2004 but although he played some promising games on the wing in his first few months at the club, scoring the only goal in a win at Newcastle United, he finished the season as an occasional left-back and was deemed surplus to requirements after only 1 year in London. Atouba's flamboyance and ball skill were recognized by Hamburg and he joined in July 2005.[1] In the summer of 2009, Atouba's contract in Hamburg ended[2]. He then decided to move to Amsterdam, where he will be reunited with ex-HSV-coach Martin Jol[3]. He joins AFC Ajax on two-year deal. [4].

Atouba caused controversy after several rash challenges led to goals against his German club in the Champions League. After receiving some jeering from a disgruntled crowd he reacted by raising his middle finger to them, and asking to be substituted, having been substituted he repeated his actions and then received a red card.[

We had better hope that opposing supporters don't read Wikipedia or that he has grown up . This signing leaves me scratching my head. Is a guy surplus to requirements at HSV , at 27, any better than what we've got ? Free or not , Ajax must still pay him.

Put Atouba in the center as cover and sign Obradovic.

By sunday evening, everyone was sure that we were on the verge of signing Onyewu and Obradovich. And now we end up with this guy. I just hope Jol knows what he is doing.

But I still can't understand why we couldn't have signed an up and coming 20 year old LB who really wanted to come here.

Amol schreef:By sunday evening, everyone was sure that we were on the verge of signing Onyewu and Obradovich. And now we end up with this guy. I just hope Jol knows what he is doing.

actually, today has made me lose that faith

pure idiocy

I'd only add that it seems we've gone for a patch job on the cheap.

Amol schreef:By sunday evening, everyone was sure that we were on the verge of signing Onyewu and Obradovich. And now we end up with this guy. I just hope Jol knows what he is doing.

But I still can't understand why we couldn't have signed an up and coming 20 year old LB who really wanted to come here.

What happened to Obradovich?

I've watched my share of Hamburg matches over the past three years (particularly when Van der Vaart was still with the team) and I am not as pessimistic about this pick up. As I recall he was a pretty solid fullback for the team. Hamburg is a weird squad that doesn't keep the players they need to. I think their top forward from the past several years Olic ended up also leaving on a free transfer to Bayern. One of the main reasons Jol left the team was because of the lack of committment from the management on issues such as this. Jol had him for a full year and I think he knows a lot more than we do. (I don't think he is as naive a manager as Marco).

Orange14 schreef:I've watched my share of Hamburg matches over the past three years (particularly when Van der Vaart was still with the team) and I am not as pessimistic about this pick up. As I recall he was a pretty solid fullback for the team. Hamburg is a weird squad that doesn't keep the players they need to. I think their top forward from the past several years Olic ended up also leaving on a free transfer to Bayern. One of the main reasons Jol left the team was because of the lack of committment from the management on issues such as this. Jol had him for a full year and I think he knows a lot more than we do. (I don't think he is as naive a manager as Marco).

atouba's kicker ratings the last three seasons: 4.00, 4.22, 4.00

he was decent right when he arrived, and then... splat

he's been awful for a long time

Orange14 schreef:(I don't think he is as naive a manager as Marco).

Well, we've had our share of crazies for the last 10 years now. So I hope you understand my pessimism. I jut don't want this guy to turn out to be someone like Jurgen Colin.

Well hopefully you're right. He did look pretty decent in a 3 minute highlight reel.

aveslacker schreef:What happened to Obradovich?

I just don't see us making any moves for Obradovich anymore.

Orange14 schreef:(I don't think he is as naive a manager as Marco).

Apparently, Jol got Atouba as an experienced midfielder and he also wants Pizza Verhoeven.

http://ajax.netwerk.to/nieuws/artikel/1 ... p#reacties

Well, crap. My ignorance is rivaled only by my, um, ignorance, and I'm quite comfortable with the notion that BMJ knows more than I do, but I have to admit that going from expectations of Onyewu and Obradovic to Atouba and possibly "Ooooh Pizza" Verhoeven is kind of a letdown.

Amol schreef:
Apparently, Jol got Atouba as an experienced midfielder and he also wants Pizza Verhoeven.

http://ajax.netwerk.to/nieuws/artikel/1 ... p#reacties

as a midfielder?

okay, now i'm confused... can we just go buy marek suchy now?

Mako, every time I see that quote in your signature I start thinking that DWS are going to turn pro again. That's how little faith I have in Ajax these days...

My expectations are low and I think we'll do shite. It's like following Ireland. I love it.

bryan schreef:Mako, every time I see that quote in your signature I start thinking that DWS are going to turn pro again. That's how little faith I have in Ajax these days...

My expectations are low and I think we'll do shite. It's like following Ireland. I love it.

LOL, Bryan. Maybe I should have made sure he meant Ajax.

I'm still optimistic and will remain so until proven wrong, because I want to believe that Jol et al. know what they're doing. (Of course, that's what I said about Marco, too. )

i dont think its a bad signing at all, he is a solid player who did well for jol at hamburg until he was injured... and not only that, hes cost us next to nothing (just a wage), and i certainly think hes better than some of the squad players we have right now.. not to mention that there isnt many other left sided defencive players that are available at the minute for a decent price, jol isnt a stupid manager, he did well at spurs and was for some un-known reason got rid of, keep the faith people!

This is kind of funny: Jol left Hamburg because they didn't want to
invest money in new players. Well without him they bought Elia fot 9-10 m and there are
reports this morning that they also signed Marcus Berg. Both were our targets. Plus the
the miss out with Onyewu...so who's incompitentive right now????
If our signing policy will go on like that i hope MJ knows how to motivate our currens squad, because this is all we have.

I do not really know this guy but I am not jumping up and down with excitement.

We are looking to pay 375000euors for pizza man. He only has a year left of his contract. We are linked with ex PSV Vogel. Oh yes we are now paying Luque to train back in Spain.I wonder at this minute why we have a youth system and what the point is . We keep bringing in second rate dross and we still need more midfielders. Yet our defence is crap and I doubt our new boy will make much difference. It looks like we do not want to bring in Obrodovic a real talent .He will end up with areally big club next season.

It appears we have no money and going for free transfers and cheap players. I would prefer to give our youth a chance .Vertonghen Alderweireld deJong and Sarpong plus Blind and van der Heijden.Together with a new but experinced established goalscorer and 2 decent new defenders and we still have Aissati Suarez Sulejmani.

SPL schreef:We are looking to pay 375000euors for pizza man. He only has a year left of his contract. We are linked with ex PSV Vogel. Oh yes we are now paying Luque to train back in Spain.I wonder at this minute why we have a youth system and what the point is . We keep bringing in second rate dross and we still need more midfielders. Yet our defence is crap and I doubt our new boy will make much difference. It looks like we do not want to bring in Obrodovic a real talent .He will end up with areally big club next season.

It appears we have no money and going for free transfers and cheap players. I would prefer to give our youth a chance .Vertonghen Alderweireld deJong and Sarpong plus Blind and van der Heijden.Together with a new but experinced established goalscorer and 2 decent new defenders and we still have Aissati Suarez Sulejmani.

I will just repeat an earlier post - we are a club with little ambition and are going nowhere fast. What a pale imitation of Ajax pre ArenA

Vogel ? 32 and couldn't get a game last year at Blackburn. Great !! I'm totally disgusted. We need more midfielders ? Fourteen isn't enough to choose from ?

Yes I agree. I don't see at all this urgency in bringing in a midfielder. We are plenty of them, and if we finally buy at least one centre back also vertonghen should play in mf. for this reason the bad ending of the onyewu-affair has really pissed me off. and the same goes for obradovic, the player seemed convinced to join ajax and then nothing. atouba is ok but..
today we sign verhoeven. ok, he seems everything except a goalkeeper. pizza-man, burger king, febo and so on. poor man.
but the truth is that he is a very good goalkeeper behind maarten and kenneth.

With Verhoeven signing I doubt Sergio Padt will get that much reserve games and Marco Bizot will end up on the bench at best. Both these are talents and oh yes in our A1 we have Warner Hahn ,only 17 and contracted.
Cannot think of many EPL clubs who have paid money for their second goalie let alone a third choice.

If this leaves me speachless then signing another midfielder is beyond me.Vogel !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unless we all start a transfer collection fund, the team is not going to be competitive with Milan and other top flight clubs. I'm also disappointed that Onyewu didn't come to Amsterdam and still think it would have been a better choice for him but Milan has all the Kaka money to spend and they are only looking to bring in two players this season Onyewu and a striker (they apparently are not going after Huntelaar at this point; only Fabiano from Seville). I agree with others about giving a clear message to those in the youth program that if they progress they will get a fair shot at first team play.