He played at left back that year. De Boer was the one who moved him into midfield and De Boer wasn’t even at Ajax until the following season.
Blind's trajectory from Ajax to Old Trafford via a World Cup semi-final may look like a simple one for a privileged boy, but it has been far from comfortable.
It all started out well enough for the son of an icon. He was named Ajax's Talent of the Year before Marco van Basten handed him his senior debut at the age of 18, and it seemed things would go smoothly after the coach's glittering report.
''He controls the positioning, he is technically skilled and often stands in the right place,” he said. “He plays with ease. He made his debut, but it looks like he's been playing with us for years.”
He played again days later in the UEFA Cup against Slavia Prague, but his season ended shortly afterwards and soon Blind's future at Ajax looked non-existent.
Their third-placed finish led to Van Basten’s departure, and there was no place for Blind under replacement Martin Jol. The youngster got nowhere near the field until Groningen took him on loan in January 2010. He was a star up north, though, featuring in every game for a side that reached the Europa League playoffs under Ron Jans.
Blind returned to the capital hopeful of getting a chance at his boyhood team, but Jol would not budge, despite the protestations of his assistant manager – Danny Blind. When Groningen came back in for him near the end of 2010, he had a serious decision to make.
“We seriously considered a return to Groningen,” he told Volskrant after his move to Manchester. “I had a great time in Groningen, but it still felt weird to put on another team’s shirt.”
Blind remained determined to break through and his patience was paid off when Jol was replaced by
Frank de Boer in December 2010. He was in the starting XI two weeks later in a 2-0 win over Feyenoord and made a further nine appearances in the Eredivisie as they lifted a first league title in seven years.
While De Boer had given him a boost, the fans still wouldn’t accept him as one of theirs and made that known, even booing him during games.
“My relationship with the fans is not optimal, I’ve said that often,” he said. “They hurt me and it still hurts. My relationship with them is just not good.”
It took a long time for Blind to win everyone over. He was in and out of the squad for most of the 2011-12 season as he was appalling defensively, lacked strength and seemed uncomfortable on the ball.
"I am convinced that the fans were fed by some media in those times,” his dad said later. "There was a character assassination committed almost weekly."
The next season again started badly, but Blind became a key man due to Nicolai Boilesen’s injury, playing every minute in Ajax’s third consecutive Eredivisie triumph, as well as a Champions League campaign in which they faced Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and took four points from Manchester City.
At the halfway mark, Ajax were still unsure over his future and let his contract run down to the last six months.
“It also depends on Mitchell Dijks and Boilesen’s situations,” De Boer said, highlighting Blind’s level at the time. “But we are very satisfied with Daley’s development, he is a true Ajax player. We will soon discuss it.
“At the beginning of the season there were doubts, but Daley has picked up everything himself and those doubts are gone.”
He soon obliterated everyone else’s doubts too. By remaining resilient and a hard worker in training, he developed into a star on that left side, and so rapid was his improvement that he went on to become Ajax’s player of the year for 2012-13 and was consistently excellent the following campaign.
He remained at left-back initially but moved into the centre of midfield, where he blossomed into an integral part of De Boer’s system, setting the tempo in every game and proving reliable under pressure.
Blind was again the subject of chants from the supporters, but it was different. Not only was he now a real Ajax man, he was the league’s Player of the Year in 2014.
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