He was a good player but we kept sticking him at left back which exposed him quite a bit. I remember he would lump crosses in from deep because he didn't have he energy to get up and down all game.
Donny van de Beek | van de Beek's father: "[Moving to United] a dream come true."
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He was a good player but we kept sticking him at left back which exposed him quite a bit. I remember he would lump crosses in from deep because he didn't have he energy to get up and down all game.
I see a lot of comments here saying that Ajax is a class club and decent doing business with, contrary to Borussia Dortmund. Ofcourse I agree with Ajax being a class club. The way Ajax has grown over the last 3-4 years, reaching a Europa League final and CL semi final (should've really reached the final) is extraordinary and the club is growing outside the field too. Commercial deals all around the world, big social media presence, keeping on to the best players longer by paying salaries that are quite frankly unheard of in the Dutch Eredivisie.
But in the current setup, there's a limit to what Ajax can achieve and I think everybody at and around the club knows that. Paying higher salaries is one thing, but we will never be able to compete financially with the topclubs in Europe. And then when you have a special bunch of players (De Ligt, Frenkie, Donny, Ziyech, Onana, Tagliafico, Neres) you just know you are going to part ways with them at some point. There is just no way playing away to FC Emmen or Fortuna Sittard on artificial grass is in any way stimulating for the likes abovementioned. And that is the real shame, Ajax is a topclub and in a different league could really be amongst the best clubs in the world. Sadly, it's just the state of Dutch clubfootball that is holding us back.
And there's the difference with Borussia Dortmund. The Bundesliga is one of the best leagues in the world, third best after the Prem and LaLiga if you ask me. Dortmund is the second best team in that league. Now put Ajax in that league and we sure as hell wouldn't be parting with our best players as easily as we did with Donny. But for Ajax, the best we can hope for is making clear agreements with our best players. Give them a nice payrise and promise that when the right club comes, the club is willing to negotiate. That's what's happened with Donny and Ziyech and how we can atleast keep on to our best players another year. But there's a limit to that and everybody at Ajax knows exactly what's what.
But in the current setup, there's a limit to what Ajax can achieve and I think everybody at and around the club knows that. Paying higher salaries is one thing, but we will never be able to compete financially with the topclubs in Europe. And then when you have a special bunch of players (De Ligt, Frenkie, Donny, Ziyech, Onana, Tagliafico, Neres) you just know you are going to part ways with them at some point. There is just no way playing away to FC Emmen or Fortuna Sittard on artificial grass is in any way stimulating for the likes abovementioned. And that is the real shame, Ajax is a topclub and in a different league could really be amongst the best clubs in the world. Sadly, it's just the state of Dutch clubfootball that is holding us back.
And there's the difference with Borussia Dortmund. The Bundesliga is one of the best leagues in the world, third best after the Prem and LaLiga if you ask me. Dortmund is the second best team in that league. Now put Ajax in that league and we sure as hell wouldn't be parting with our best players as easily as we did with Donny. But for Ajax, the best we can hope for is making clear agreements with our best players. Give them a nice payrise and promise that when the right club comes, the club is willing to negotiate. That's what's happened with Donny and Ziyech and how we can atleast keep on to our best players another year. But there's a limit to that and everybody at Ajax knows exactly what's what.
We have missed out on some players. We haven't been a top club that plays for titles in some time. So it's no wonder why people think we don't attract good players.
Good post. I've thought for a while that regional leagues need to be supported by UEFA to allow smaller countries to have competitive clubs at a European level. Belgium and Netherlands would be better off having a top tier Benelux league; Denmark, Sweden and Norway a Scandinavian top tier; ditto for some groupings of Central European countries.
I'm quite familiar with Ukrainian football and their top tier is just falling apart. You basically have Shakhtar and Dyanmo, four or five other clubs which go back to Soviet times, and then a load of new clubs that rotate in and then go bust in a few years. Dnipro reached the EL final in 2014-15 and then went bust as they couldn't balance the books. Metalist Kharkiv disappeared in 2016. Other bigger sides like Chornomorets and Karpaty have been mismanaged into the lower tiers. The truth is that Ukraine cannot really sustain a competitive top tier league. They certainly could be part of a good Transcarpathian top division though along with Romania, Poland etc.
We missed out on top players even when we were successful.
Jose needs to watch more football
He expects him to become one of the best players in the world? Sure hope he is right but that would surprise me somewhat..
The best players in the world go for £150m not £80m and certainly not £40m now a days.
I´m sure you are right but Kaveh literally said he expects him to become one of the best players in the world!
Depends on the position, forwards/wingers yes, Defenders/Midfielders, not generally.
Yup. I can't help but quite admire them as a club.
I've said it loads of times in threads about Blind, I was fecking gutted we got rid of him. Lovely player to watch, extremely intelligent and an extremely dedicated professional. I love the man.
A lot of things like this are timing, he was moved on under Jose, but if he was in a very technical team like Barca he would be a very good option to have.
I'd say that a player like Blind is a technically better and more versatile than someone like Sergi Roberto at Barca, so Blind was not a disaster at United, just the squad wasn't good enough, it was a failure of the whole squad, and people like Blind got moved on.
Put Blind in a top United team and he would be a good player, or at least an option like O'Shea was.
Yeah, agreed. Even in this current squad he would be a fantastic option to have.
Great hair too
It was worth it just for this sending Emre Can on his ass at Anfield.
Agree with most of that and I find some of the posts here calling Dortmund out way off the mark. They did set their price and were clear what they want from the start if reports are to be believed.
That being said, Dortmund clearly choose a path in recent years that heavily relies on selling the best young talents around the world to top clubs. That wasn't the case so much a few years ago, but the change of direction is quite clear and that is exactly what gives them the edge in bringing Haaland, Bellingham, Sancho's of this world when they enter the race to sign them.
With that in mind, they simply can't block the transfer after some time, and the policy in the last few years isn't that different from yours whether they like it or not. They also give a good contract to top talent, a great chance to develop and when the right time and offer come they will sell. Rinse, repeat.
You just know VdS did us a favor here. Once a red always a red!
Not any more
Love reading this. Have always like your club and the players you produced and still producing. Hope United can maintain an amicable relationship with Ajax and we can have your best players come to us more often. Of course it helps that Edwin is your sporting director as well
Can you expand on this or point me towards where I can find more information? I used to enjoy watching the Dutch league years ago and always wondered why it wasn't more of a thing given that the nation is rich and produces so many first rate players.
For all the concerns people kept raising about his lack of pace and strength , you have to ask, did it ever cost us?
I don't see a problem with Dortmund's demands given that he's their player. I just find them a cringe inducing club. I had the misfortune to encounter a group of Dortmund fans in London when they played Spurs. I can only describe them as the scousers of Germany.
I don't remember an occasion where it did. His intelligence and all round play more than made up for his lack of pace.
Blind was underrated IMO. Extremely intelligent player ... I remember thinking that LvG was going insane when he used him as a CB, but it actually worked pretty well alongside Smalling.
Yup, just shows you if you can read the game well and can stay calm you can play most positions. His CB partnership with Smalling was very good.
Don't you think a BeNeLiga would be a good start? Best 10 clubs from Holland and 8 from Belgium for instance. Ajax is ahead of everyone, but I think the top 6 in Belgium is on average better. I think it would be great, but it seems Dutch people are not a fan.
There was an annoying phase where every pre match thread was full of moaning about how whichever striker we were facing had some quality that would utterly humiliate Blind. Whether it was speed, strength, agility, THIS was definitely going to be the match where the "Blind experiment" would prove to be a disaster. And yet, it never happened. His game-reading and intelligence were nearly always spot on.
It got a bit ridiculous. I remember a meltdown about how fecking Rudy Gestede was going to dominate us because of Blind. Rudy Gestede!
There was an annoying phase where every pre match thread was full of moaning about how whichever striker we were facing had some quality that would utterly humiliate Blind. Whether it was speed, strength, agility, THIS was definitely going to be the match where the "Blind experiment" would prove to be a disaster. And yet, it never happened. His game-reading and intelligence were nearly always spot on.
It got a bit ridiculous. I remember a meltdown about how fecking Rudy Gestede was going to dominate us because of Blind. Rudy Gestede!
Fecking Gestede
I don't think Daniel James would be earning that much
James, AWB, Dalot are all on less than 100k per week and everyone signed in last 2 summers.
Then you have players like Greenwood, Tuanzebe, Williams who all signed new contracts in last 12 months and none of them are on 100K per week. Would guess same with pereira and McTominay too.
I wonder whether by “all done” they mean “legally binding documents are signed” or something else?
In what way?
Apart from James, who we all knew was a squad player, young and with room to improve, who else has been debatable?
Excellent post! However.. wat gaat Overmars doen met al *** poen? Negatief rente betalen?
Metro claim Donny's been told he's the 10 at United. Does that mean Bruno's going to be played deeper? Everyone's assumptions on here have seemed to still be Bruno as the most advanced midfielder.
it's starting to sound like a ludicrously attacking line-up if he's keeping Pogba and Bruno behind him. Unless it's a diamond and we're going very narrow.
it's starting to sound like a ludicrously attacking line-up if he's keeping Pogba and Bruno behind him. Unless it's a diamond and we're going very narrow.
Erm...
guy always dominated lukaku when we played everton for all those concerns about his pace, strength and height. he had this rare ability to be competent at least no matter which position he played. For some reason though he wasn't that good as a Carrick understudy.
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