Preseason Rolls On
By: Matt | July 25th, 2008
A couple of friendlies and a couple of run-away goalfests for Ajax. If preseason friendlies are any indication (and they are not) Marco does plan on outscoring the opposition all season. And with the cumulative score of the last two friendlies somewhere in the vicinity of 15-1, it does not look like a bad plan. A recap for those of you keeping books at home:
Ajax 7-0 Germanicus
Goals from Cvitanich, Javier Martina, Kennedy, Leonardo, Siem de Jong x2, Aissati
Ajax 8-1 Excelsior ‘31
Goals from Suarez x2, Gabri x2, Perez x2, Cvitanich, Vurnon Anita
No significant injuries yet. Steks and KJH have yet to appear. Sulejmani is not going to the Olympics. Doctors concluded that his knee is not ready, but he will be ready for the start of the season. Since we have a few quality wingers, I was kinda hoping to see Sulejmani in Beijing. Now I guess I’ll just have to deal with a healthy and rested Miralem when the season starts. Too bad, huh?
Regarding incoming defenders, Oleguer is not a sealed deal yet, but Danny B thinks he can make it happen. Barca guys are used to fat paychecks, so I hope we don’t hand him too much money. Links mentioned in previous comments to Bobo Balde of Celtic and Robbie Wielart of FC Twente have been running about, more so the latter than the former. Steve McClaren is claiming Robbie is going nowhere while his agent claims his client is interested.
These links do make it appear that after Oleguer any defenders added to the squad would be depth rather than quality. That means the backline is more-or-less settled. Vermaelen and Oleguer with perhaps van der Wiel and player-to-be-named-later as depth. I am less than impressed myself, but I will be content to see some depth added if that player has more than a year or two to give. That rules out Balde, and I am afraid Wielart has peaked. So as long as McClaren is acting like FC Twente is a club that does not need to sell, I hope we keep looking.
In other preseason news, Jan-Arie Van der Heijden left camp. The official story was a little cryptic, and I am not sure I understand why exactly he did so. He will instead train with the youngsters. This could be quite a setback for a player many of us are starting to get excited about. If anybody can gain more info from this story, post a comment below.
Oh yeah, the new away shirts have been unveiled. Take a look. Seems pretty plain to me. I am just trying to get used to the fact that are shirts are not going to be as great as they used to be.
Category: Team News
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Comments
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First of all, great job on this blog! Second, I’m wondering if you’ve heard anything on the rumors that Roma, having apparently failed in their efforts to pry Mutu loose from my second-favorite club, Fiorentina, are turning their attention to Huntelaar (see http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jul25q.html, as linked from The Offside’s Fiorentina blog).
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Martin- Thanks. Regarding KJH to Roma, of course it is a possibility. Roma has been linked to him since before the window opened, as a predatory in-the-box striker would really help that club. But Ajax is still holding firm. Whether it is for show or not, I dunno.
Personally, I bet KJH has a very short list of clubs on his mind: Madrid, ManU, maybe Juve. I have not read him mentioning Roma. Why leave Ajax while your stock is rising to go where you do not want to go? Ruud might need replacing next summer, after all…
And finally, you can imagine why I don’t mention every KJH transfer rumor. I would need a separate blog. Instead, I will speak of KJH transfers in unusually long responses to comments until something official is done.
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