Ajax - Most popular for 2007
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Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool are likely to be involved in a bidding war for Ajax
striker Klass Jan Huntelaar. The player said a few months ago that he will quit Ajax at the end of
the season to move on to bigger and better things abroad and since then several clubs have had
scouts watch him.
Huntelaar, 24, was named Ajax player of the year in 2006 and has been nicknamed "the hunter" due to
his goal scoring abilities.
By 1970's Gooner It has really been amazing to watch this young Arsenal team play such wonderful
football with so much ease, skill and technique. Each and every player whether a defender,
midfielder or attacker possesses an astonishing amount of talent that allows him to be almost
equally proficient in various positions and areas on the football pitch.
The second half of our big batch of Sunday transfer rumours... Liverpool's interest in Czech
Republic defender Tomas Ujfalusi has abrubtly stopped after he rebuffed a £500,00 move to join
Rafa's men...for now... (Observer) Manchester City's Sven Goran Eriksson is planning to splash his
vast amounts of cash and swoop for Arsenal's Lassana Diarra, Athletic Bilbao's Andoni [.
Netherlands club AFC Ajax has expressed its willingness to assist in developing Malaysian youth
football. Jonathan Price, Chairman of the secretive England-based Gifted Group Limited told media
that Ajax, which is a member of the G-14 alliance of powerful European clubs, presented its
proposal to the Malaysian Youth and Sports Ministry recently. He said that Ajax's youth academy was
well-known
In an endearing piece in the Daily Mail today, summer acquisition and winger extraordinaire, Ryan
Babel, has revealed that he owes a great deal of gratitude to Rafa Benitez for his tremendous start
with the club.
Apparently when Babel was at Ajax, he would let outside interference (a.k.a the crowd) affect his
play, so much so that he would become 'depressed on the pitch'.
The videos that ultra groups put up on youtube seem to be recruitment drive vehicles these days, so
smoothly are they put together. And they're always accompanied by some bloody terrible techno
music. Still, these Ajax fans can't half put on a tifo display and for some odd reason, they always
seem to be around when [...]
The first legs of the the third qualifying round were played on Tuesday and Wednesday and there
were few surprises among the results. Among the notable events from Tuesday, Freddy Adu made his
debut appearance for Benficabut it was old boy Rui Costa who stole the show and proved he is still
capable of performing at the highest levels. The 35-year-old scored a brace and was the difference
on the night as Benfica took a 2-1 lead over FC Copenhagen.
As I mentioned last week, we're going to take a look at the UEFA Cup, this companion competition to
the Champions League. The UEFA Cup evolved from the old Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was founded
in 1955, two weeks after the founding of the European Champion Clubs' Cup.
The original tournament lasted three years, with matches timed to coincide with trade fairs and
involved teams from Barcelona, Basle, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Lausanne, Leipzig, London,
Milan and Zagreb.
Henk Ten Cate held a press conference to say he wouldn't be heading to Chelsea, but to no avail,
the offer was too good to refuse. Ten Cate was given the go ahead to sever his ties with Ajax and
head to Stamford Bridge to open negotiations. It's not every day you see the Dutch powerhouses
stamped [...]
Wesley Sneijder has revealed that growing up in a though area of Holland prepared him for
professional football and also given his views on Real Madrid's recent displays.
The Dutch midfielder has made an instant impact at the Bernabéu after his summer arrival from Ajax
and he has not suffered from any nerves in his surroundings.
That lack of fear comes from his childhood, where Sneijder was forced to fight in order to play on
the one pitch in his local district.
After a very slow start to their moves in the transfer market, Liverpool have
started making their moves, their latest being a 10m pound offer for Ajax winger
Ryan Babel who has been heavily linked with Arsenal.
While Babel is considered to be highly rated by much of the football world, I
would consider him highly overrated.
The third qualifying round completed on Tuesday and Wednesday (except for the postponed AEK
Athens - Sevilla match) and there were few shocking results except for the ouster of Ajax by SK
Slavia Praha. This will be a major disappointment for Ajax as they lost to FC København in the
third qualifying round a year ago. Stanislav Vlček (pictured below on the left) was the hero for
Slavia scoring twice to propel the Czech side into the group stage for the first time in their
history.
With more than a hint of wistfulness, Klaas-Jan Hunterlaar has spoken of Ajax's loss of Wesley
Sneijder.
The Amsterdam club, carrying on its reputation for providing the biggest European clubs with fine
talent, sold the Oranje ace on in summer, leaving what Huntelaar describes as a gaping hole in
midfield.
"Last season, we largely built our system of play around him," said the striker, himself capped
eight times for Holland.
By 1970's Gooner What stood out clearly during the victory at "bogey team" West Ham, as everyone of
course acknowledged, was Arsenal's new found resilience and tenacity to grind out a victory at an
away ground where the opponents refused to let the young guns play their beautiful game. "One of
their characteristics is they put their foot in so it's very competitive out there," said Alan
Well, we managed to qualify for the group stages for the 10th year running after beating Slavia
Prague 5-0 on aggregate, so we get the excitement of getting to see our team play in the Champions
League once again. I discussed the possibilities of who we could face in an article before, but now
that the draw has been settled we know who our opponents are.
Oh dear. Things haven't been going well at Ajax for the last few years, but losing your head coach
to become the top assistant at Chelsea is just another painful reminder that Ajax is no longer one
of the top 50 clubs in Europe, let alone amongst the elite.
The writing has been on the wall for about 10 years now. Back when Ajax was sexy, ESPN2 showed a
weekly Dutch soccer game every Sunday morning in the early- to mid-90s.
Following up on my prior post on coaching changes, news has emerged today that yet another change
has occured. Ronald Koeman, the former Ajax and Benfica boss, has resigned his role as manager of
PSV Eindhoven to take on the vacant managerial role for Spanish club Valencia. The La Liga side are
thought to have reached a financial agreement with their Dutch counterparts for compensation.
Dutch side Ajax have given Henk Ten Cate permission to contact Chelsea to discuss the possibility
of him joining the coaching staff at Stamford bridge as Avram Grant's number two. This could
unsettle Steve Clarke, although Chelsea will do what they can to help keep some continuity at the
club, which could involve him moving [...]
