Defensive Help & Midfield Jam

It looks like Danny Blind’s little vacation to Barcelona was productive. Ajax and Barca have reportedly agreed to a 3 million euro deal with an additional 2 million based on qualification for the CL. No word yet on agreement to personal terms with Oleguer, but I bet he wants to move on. I just hope the personal contract is as reasonable as the transfer fee. I don’t know what Oleguer has been making while sitting on the bench in Spain, but we all know how frugal La Liga giants can be.

If the deal is reached, we should have a useful central defender we can count on. Life after Stam and Heitinga now looks more promising than it did a few weeks ago. I still hope for one more good central defender, hopefully of the young and promising variety, to take the pressure off Vermaelen and van der Wiel. The former will probably come back from the Olympics missing a leg while the latter still needs to be brought along slowly.

So while backline reinforcements continue to arrive, the bounty of options in the midfield might create a different sort of crisis. When Kenneth Perez was asked about his former teammate’s move, he commented that he was not only surprised Aissati came but that he no longer knew what his role might be at the club. If there is a single position where we could be assured of adequate depth after last season, it was in the midfield. Veterans like Perez and Gabri were supplemented by strong newcomers like Vertonghen, Lindgren, Siem de Jong. Younger talents like Mitchell Donald and Vurnon Anita were held up and are now being sent out on loan. Even with Davids’ departure, it appeared that MvB had his midfield covered. Until Aissati came in. Now he has a different problem.

Perez won’t want to sit, neither will Gabri. We have to see Vertonghen and De Jong on the pitch more to determine where their ceiling might be. Lindgren is good enough to see plenty of action as well. At most, there will be three spots on the first team. Barring more than the usual injuries and suspensions, somebody is going to be disappointed by December. And if it is Aissati, well, we do know what he does when he sits too long. Rumor has it he turned down a few “big clubs” and EPL suitors because he did not want to sit on the bench any longer.

I still like the move, because I expect that by December we will know which of our young midfielders are good enough to stay. Or maybe we will know before that. Probably in response to crowding concerns after Aissati transferred in, Ajax immmediately negotiated a new deal with Jan Vertonghen, adding two years to a deal that would have expired in 2011. Is MvB choosing his midfield? Or is Vertonghen now certain to be moved to a defensive position?

> Oh yeah, it appears that Luque got hurt in the friendly. Hip injury. He’ll be out awhile, which means we will be out of a chance to dump him until January perhaps.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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