Ajax hope to prosper by keeping their top players
AJAX AMSTERDAM’S hopes of longterm financial stability rest on the Dutch club keeping together a talented young squad that has taken them to the cusp of a first European final in more than two decades, chief executive Edwin van der Sar said.
Despite having an average age of just 22, Ajax’s current crop of players has this season rekindled memories of the club’s past European glories.
They face Olympique Lyonnais in the second leg of the Europa League semifinal tonight, holding a 4-1 advantage from the first leg in Amsterdam.
European champions four times, Ajax have recently gained a reputation for being a feeder club, selling on top talent to richer rivals in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Van der Sar says they should avoid the short-term temptation of cashing in on the latest generation and look to build a business that can compete again with the continent’s elite.
“We want to make Ajax more financially more stable and are looking to close the gap on the European front,” Van der Sar told Reuters.
“We are not reaching the €600-700million budget that the top clubs in Europe are making mainly through sponsoring, TV revenue in their country and revenues from the Champions League. We want to do it differently, by focusing on quality and maintaining the best players.”
Ajax have an enviable reputation for developing talented young players, but the current team is arguably the most exciting since the club reached the Champions League quarter-finals in 2003.
With a core of young Dutch players strengthened by shrewd signings such as Cameroon Under-20 goalkeeper Andre Onana from Barcelona and winger Amin Younes from Borussia Monchengladbach, questions linger over whether Ajax will be able to keep its squad together next season.
“The Dutch league is not one of the strongest five leagues in the world or even Europe and that’s why it is difficult to maintain,” Van der Sar added.
“But at the moment we are in now, reaching a semi and hopefully a final, we have to take it on to next year.”
The current generation at Ajax includes Justin Kluivert, whose father Patrick Kluivert scored the only goal when they beat AC Milan to win the Champions League final in 1995.
Other young prospects to shine at Ajax are attacking midfielder Donny van de Beek, 20, and teenage centre-back Matthijs de Ligt, who in March became the youngest player to be capped by the Netherlands since 1931.
Meanwhile, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho defended his decision to prioritise the Europa League ahead of the semi-final second leg against Celta Vigo tonight.
Mourinho rested first-choice players in Sunday’s 2-0 Premier League defeat by Arsenal and United’s hopes of finishing in the top four are fading.
They lead Celta 1-0 from the first leg in Spain and victory in the final against Ajax or Lyon would seal a place in next season’s Champions League.
“The situation is simple – 17 matches in seven weeks with 16 players is impossible. It was not a gamble, it was a simple decision. A decision based on common sense,” Mourinho told a news conference yesterday.