Holland International and sometimes used Liverpool first teamer Ryan Babel and his agent had a loan request for the 21 year old to get more playing time rejected by Red’s boss Rafa Benitez.
Real Madrid Sporting Director Pedrag Mijatovic has admitted to tracking Holland International Klass Jan Huntelaar for the last two years before making the outright move to pay 20 Million Euro to Ajax for his services as soon as the January Transfer Window opens.
LG Amsterdam Tournament
1-0 J.Suarez - Ajax
2-0 Huntelaar - Ajax
2-1 Adebayor - Arsenal
2-2 Bendtner - Arsenal
2-3 Adebayor - Arsenal
Adebayor is one absolute fire!
Eredivisie runners up Ajax has paid 3 million Euros to Catalan side Barcelona for the services of defender Oleguer Presas (so that’s his last name). If Ajax make it to the Champions League just once over the next three seasons, they are required to pay Barcelona another 2.5 Million Euro.
Oleguer is reportedly set to earn 750,000 Euros a year for three season and is the 4th addition (Ismael Aissati, Miralem Sulejmani and Dario Cvitanich) this summer.
Oleguer, known to be one of the deeper thinkers in the game, published his first book, Cami d’Itaca (Road to Ithaca) which told the story of his struggle with anorexia as a youth and publicly questioned the Spanish governments involvement in both of the Gulf Wars.
Marco Van Basten’s first order of business at Ajax was to get in touch with former teammate Dennis Bergkamp, just to catch up. That call led to a conversation about Bergkamp’s availability to be a part of Van Basten’s staff at the legendary Dutch club, one Bergkamp jumped at.
image via Ave-It
After only two weeks back at Ajax, Holland legend Johan Cruyff has taken his ball and gone home. The 60 year old seems to have a major difference in opinion with incoming manager Marco Van Basten over the importance of the club’s youth development, something Cruyff deemed highly important to future objectives.
Cruyff told the Dutch media on Friday: “I wanted youth training to be a priority and to be carried out as a matter of importance.
“I outlined my objectives clearly but my vision is not shared by the people who must carry it out.”
This will be something to keep on eye on since the relationships between players past and present has always been a sticking point in Holland.
image via WorldCupBetting
Even though he’s in the middle of his preparations for the summer’s European Championships for Holland, Marco van Basten has today signed a pre-contract with Ajax to take the helm at the Amsterdam ArenA July 1st. The guy who’s ankles forced FIFA to outlaw tackles from behind because of his bright career ending way too soon, Van Basten will return to the club where enjoyed soo much success as a player from 1982-87 and the sight of his only coaching stint (Ajax Reserves) before taking over for Holland in 2004.
image via Fortunicity
image via SkyRock
When purchasing Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Ajax, Fabio Capello knew the talent the young Swede had, but also his temperament. Since then, Zlatan has gone on to star at Inter as Capello, who won last year at Real Madrid is now the manager of England after Juventus’ drop to Serie B in 2006 . In today’s SkySports, Ibrahimovic gives his opinion on the Don and how they used to call him The Psychologist for his ability to handle players egos.
image via Online Sport
He might not be drinking success the way he was back in the day with Munich, but Sammy Kuffour might be able to still win a title after signing a 6 month contract(with a 2 year option) and filling the void lost in the central defense by the retirement of Jaap Stam at Ajax. Still only 31 years old, Kuffour followed his playing days with Munich by signing with AS Roma in 2005. Going on loan last season at Livorno, Kuffour latest move should get him back in Champions League where he’s had over 60 appearances, the most by an African player. Even though Kuffour was named one of the top 30 African players ever by the Confederation of African Football (and still holds the record for youngest Olympic Football Champion at age 15 for Ghana in the 1992), he was not chosen by Ghana for 2008’s African Nations Cup.
