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Franck's Ajax Invincibles?

Can De Boar get Ajax to Dominate Europe and the World
Started on 24 January 2020 by No1VillaFan
Latest Reply on 10 March 2020 by Big_Wully_Boly
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Transfer Centre



Ajax in Focus


Hello and welcome back to Sky Sports News on the 25th June 2019 and it is the point of the show where we are looking at the transfers of Champions League teams. Today we are going to look at Ajax under new manager Franck De Boar. De Boar managed Ajax from 2010 until 2016 lifting four league titles with the Dutch side and has returned after former manager Erik Ten Hag left the club explaining that Ajax should not be a selling club.



This is because Ajax has already raked in £166m in transfer fees on the offseason selling Kasper Dolberg to Nice for £17.25m, Frankie De Jong to Barcelona for £65m and Matthijs de Ligt for £74m.
After the announcement the club wasted no time in announcing Franck De Boar back to the club and Director of Football Marc Overmars had this to say.


Erik has gone now and we thanks him for everything that he has done. Franck comes in and knows the club. (question asked in the press conference about being a selling club). No we are not a selling club because we are reinvesting all the money we make into improving the squad. we have bought in Quincy (Promes) from Sevilla and we expect great things from him. We also spent £13.5m on Razvat (Marin) from Standard and there are more deals in the pipeline. We are pushing to win the Champions League again and we care very glad that Franck has decided to come on board.

Marin has signed for Ajax this season

That was Marc Overmars there talking in the press conference about Erik Ten Hag's departure. So we at Sky sports have been looking at the possible incoming transfers for Ajax. We at Sky have it on good authority that Aston Villa have accepted a bid from Ajax for Jack Grealish. It is understood that Grealish has told Aston Villa that he would like to talk to Ajax about moving. We believe the fee is £13m upfront and and additional £40m in installments and add ons depending on performance for club and country.


Aston Villa have refused to comment on the speculation.
Another player who has definitely had a contract offer though is Celta Vigo's Right midfielder Pione Sisto. The 24 year old Dane is known for his crossing ability and it is understood a bid of £6.5m plus add ons has been accepted.


There are two other players linked to Ajax this morning and the first one is again a premier league player but it is a loan move that is reportedly being considered. Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden is being lined up for a 12 month loan move which would benefit both himself and Manchester City. Apparently Marc Overmars inquired about a permanent move but was quoted £275m. Man City will allow the Englishman to move on loan though but this is a report at the moment.

It is also understood that Ajax are lining up a move for Man Utd centre back Marcos Rojo to add European experience to there squad. It is understood that United only want just over £18m for the Argentine defender but there is reported interest from Everton, Wolves and AC Milan also.
Some interesting moves for Ajax. Not sure how many English players have played for them in the past but I'd guess they haven't gone looking for two in one window before! Good luck!
Interesting movements but I'm hardly surprised Pep isn't ready to fully let go of Foden just yet. A loan will always be beneficial, though.
This looks like it could be interesting, lost a good core and exited to see the post Ligt era

Grealish Signs!


Welcome back to Sky Sports News and today Aston Villa have confirmed that Villa Captain and midfielder Jack Grealish has signed for the Dutch Champions for a staggering reported figure of £23,000,000 but the fee could raise to £45,000,000. Grealish has been at Aston Villa for his whole career at Aston Villa (bar one season on loan at Notts County) and the jump to moving abroad is a big risk for both player and new club Ajax.

In the press conference Jack Grealish had this to say about the move, I am extremely excited about joining such a big club. Look at what they did in the Champions League last season. I have always wanted to challenge myself and this is most definitely a challenge moving to Holland. I love Amsterdam and can't wait to experience a different culture and hopefully with Ajax I can win trophies. I would like to thanks the Aston Villa fans and the backroom staff for everything over the last 8 years.

It is understood that the Ajax fans are very pleased that Jack Grealish is moving to Amsterdam and they will be interested to see how the uncapped Englishman gets on playing for the club.

Five Arrivals with Grealish Arrive

Joining Jack Grealish is two defenders, two midfielders and one attacker. Ajax have been mega busy at the start of this transfer window. So lets go through the players who have been bought.

Defenders

Marcus Rojo - £21.5m from Manchester United


Ajax are certainly spending this window as they have parted with over £20m for centre back Marcus Rojo. The 29-year-old had fallen out of favour at Manchester United and with Ajax looking short in the centre back area, his experience of the Champions League for what looks a very youthful Ajax squad could be invaluable.

Slobadan Rajkovic - Free Transfer


I know what you are all thinking? Who? The 30-year-old has been around a fair bit. Rajkovic started his career in Serbia at OFK Beograd and after 5 season's Chelsea spent over £5m on the central defender and he was immediately loaned out to rivals PSV. After that season he joined Steve Mclaren's title winning FC Twente, where he stayed for two seasons.
Rajkovic did not make a single appearence for Chelsea and after one last season on loan joined Hamburg for £2m where he stayed for four years. Darmstadt then signed the centre back for there first season in the Bundersliga. After the 2015/16 season Palermo signed Rajkovic for £1.5m but only made 4 appearances for them as they got relegated. Rajkovic stayed at the club for two more seasons before being released.
De Boar then swooped to sign the centre back to help with experience again like Rojo and with the risk of Daley Blind leaving to go to the mega rich Chinese club Tianju it seems that Ajax are making sure they are not left light at the back.


Midfielders

Pione Sisto - £17.5m from Celta Vigo


Pione Sisto joins Ajax after three season's in La Liga with Celta Vigo and Ajax held off interest from AC Milan and Tottenham to land the Danish attacking winger. Joining Grealish it looks like him and Pione will play in the same team. Sisto started his career at Denmark after moving there aged just two months old. Sisto was born in Kempala, Uganda and once he started playing football was voted Midtylland player of the year 2014.
He has been scouted by Barcelona, AC Milan (twice), Juventus and Porto but Celta were the first team to show a proper interest and he then moved to Ajax from there.


Pelle Klaassen - Free From Telstar


Ajax have also signed a player for the future in Pelle Klaasen from second tier side Telstar and goes straight into Ajax reserve side (more on him later)

Strikers

Youssef En-Nesyri - £14m From Leganes


Ajax have signed an attacker and it was what Franck de Boar stated they needed. Ajax decided to make a shock bid for Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri. The attacker has spent all career up until now playing in Spain for Malaga and Leganes.
The Moroccan scored five goals in 38 games but when Malaga got relegated Leganes signed En-Nesyri where he became the first player in Leganes history to score a hat-trick. Youssef En-Nesyri scored 16 goals in 65 games and that has done enough to convince Alax to give him a chance to prove himself at a higher level.
Some different signings than you'd expect at Ajax but other than that Grealish should boss the league alongside Sisto.
Some very interesting deals there. Rojo aged 29 moving fo rmore than 20 mill is a surprise and En-Nesyri joining despite a realitively poor scoring history. Hopefully they can prove De Boer right for moving in for them.
Sisto and Rajkovic both fantastic deals in my opinion.
No1VillaFan's avatar Group No1VillaFan
3 yearsEdited

Can PSV really challenge Ajax this Season?



On the eve of the start of the season in Holland we ask can PSV challenge Franck De Boars men this season?. It is a unlikely case of rags against riches where it really shouldn't be the case.

Ajax has spent plenty of money on the likes of Jack Grealish, Pione Sisto, Quincy Promes, Marcos Rojo and Yousef En-Nesryi along with others, Ajax spent £178m overall but raked in transfer fees of over £192m keeping them in the black.

Bruma has signed for PSV for the 2019/2020 season
PSV though have only spent £25m with there main signing being there main signing from RB Leipzig costing the club £15m. Despite only spending £25m on players and losing Hirving Lorenzo, Luuk De Jong and Angelino will cause an impact on the club. Lorenzo was replaced by Kostas Mitroglou on loan from Olymipic Marseille and they will be looking for Kostas to have a big say in this season but just like Franck de Boar signing En-Nesryi both managers are banking on what can be called average strikers coming good for them this season. The difference with PSV is that there is no quality past Mitroglou whereas Ajax have Dusan Tadic and Klaas-Jan Huntalaar to call upon.

PSV have already defeated Ajax in this season's Dutch Super Cup but a one off game is exactly what PSV are good at. The bookmakers think it will actually be a three horse race with Ajax priced at 5/2, PSV priced at 3/1 and Fayenoord priced at 4/1. AZ Alkmar are 5/1 and had a very good offseason.

Ajax have all the quality to have a season just as similar as last season but first Ajax have to negotiate the Champions League third qualifying round against a tricky opposition in Ferencvaros. Ajax kick off the Eredivisie against PEC Zwolle and it will be interesting if Jack Grealish and Pione Sisto play.
A nice little piece explaining the closest challengers to us, good work.
Good luck with this!
Thanks for the comments guys

Good Start for Ajax As Quincy and Yousef Make Their Mark


Ajax had an astonishing NINE matches in August. Squad rotation was key here and it and players got chances to impress new manager Franck de Boar. Ajax also had two, two legged Champions League qualifying matches. New signings Perr Schuurs, Quincy Promes, Yousef En-Nesyri and Jack Grealish all getting on the scoresheet.



Quincy Promes has been very impressive this month and his link up play with Sergino Dest has been an encouraging start. Slavia Prague were minutes away from knocking us out of the Champions League but a goal from Razvan Marin gave us the victory. Lets look at the matches this month.

Promes has been awesome this month
Ajax started the season again PEC Zwolle where Quincy Promes and Jack Grealish were given there debuts and it was a positive first game for de Boar. PEC are not the best team ever but they started better. It was a slow start and with a defensive line of Dest, Veltman, Chuurs and Tagliafico kept the plucky side out at the beginning. Joel Veltman got the first from a Seergino Dest cross after good work from Promes. Just 8 minutes later and the game was put beyond doubt with another Dest corner found the head of youngster Schuurs to make it 2-0. Ajax peppered the goal throughout the match with the performance of Hakim Ziyech particularly pleasing in the 2-0 win.

Ajax then played Ferencvaros and it was the performance of 16-year-old Naci Unuvar who became Ajax's youngest ever scorer and put in a Player Of The Match performance in the 3-1 victory. Goals from Huntelaar and a Quincy Promes free kick won the game. The main point was that Jack Grealish won eight free kicks in the game which one of the goals came from.

Ajax then traveled to the Hitatchi Capitol Mobility Stadion to take on FC Groningen. MArcos Rojo was given his Ajax debut after his £20m move to Amsterdam. Ryan Gravenbirch also started as de Boar rotated with Siem de Jong and Dusan Tadic also starting as En-Nesyri got injured in training so had to wait for his debut. The match was again rather easy for Ajax as Siem de Jong raced through in just the 4th minute to make it 1-0. Quincy Promes was a thorn in Groningen's side all game as his trickery on the left side of midfield was awesome all game. Dusan Tadic got a brace and the Promes scored a delightful free kick after Naci Unuvar got fouled.

Ajax then played the second leg infront of 52,758 where only 517 fans were from Hungary. This was the match that free signing Slobadan Rajkovic joined up with Marcos Rojo in defence and Quincy Promes was rested in place of Razvan Marin. Siem de Jong carried on from the Groningen match and got the first goal after Grealish won a free kick. Jack Grealish is spending most of his time playing at central midfield which is where he craved to play when he was at Aston Villa. Ferencvaros did get a goal back but Promes came on in the 80th minute and one minute later scored a fantastic 25 yard shot which was his first touch of the ball sending Ajax into the champions League decider with Czech Republic Champions Slavia Prague for a place in the Champions League.

Ajax travelled to FC Emmen for a easy victory
Ajax then travelled to the De Oude Meerdijk to play FC Emmen where fans got to see new signing Youssef En-Nesryi in action and youngster Kik Pierie alongside Rajkovic in defence. Pione Sisto and Quincy Promes took the wide positions with Grealish and Gravenberch started in midfield leaving Van de Beek on the bench. It took Sisto just 12 minutes to bag his first goal for the club and a neat through ball from Ziyech, playing just behind En-Nesyri to round the keeper and slot home. This was also going to be Grealish's day as he converted a free kick which was won by himself and then three minutes later a Quincy Promes cross after a poor corner was executed by Slobadan Rajkovic with a header into the top corner. Quincy Promes then scored his 4th goal in 4 games to finish off the rout of FC Emmen

Ajax then played Slavia Prague and it was an entertaining 3-3 draw against the Czech Champions. Youssef En-Nesyri scored 2 goals in five minutes to send over 50,000 fans into raptures, it was short lived though as 13 minutes later Slavia Prague were 2-2 as Peter Olayinka and Milan Skoda scored headed goals. Olyinka then made it 3-2 to Slavia Prague with another headed goal. That made the Johan Cruijff Arena very quiet but only for 2 minutes as from kick off Promes ran at the defence and squared it for David Neres to lash home for 3-3. The second half was not as good as the first half but quite amazingly Slavia Prague had the advantage.

Ajax then played PSV where Ajax had not lost a game in the Eridivisie yet this season but this was all about to change. Franck de Boar changed formation and dropped En-Nesyri to play Tadic and de Jong upfront and Lisandro MArtinez got his debut at centre back but it was not as goes from Ritsu Doan and Jorrit Hendrix scored either side of half time substitute En-Nesyri to bag a 2-1 victory and put them level on points with there rivals.

Razvat Marin spared the blushes of Ajax and fired them into the Champions League
Ajax then played the return leg of the Champions League final qualifier against Slavia Prague. The winners got to the Champions League final and this was a cagey match where de Boar went back to his 4-2-3-1 with Van de Beek and Grealish in central midfield and Ziyech playing just behind En-Nesyri. as the clock hit 70 minutes Prague new at 0-0 they would cause a big big upset and knock out last seasons semi-finalists. In the 74th minute however a long ball from Marcos Rojo found the run of En-Nesyri to slot home to for 1-0 and Ajax going through. The celebrations were premature though as Stanislav Tecl took just 1 minute to level things up with a thunderous shot and Slavia Prague were again going through. Ajax then through everything at the Czech Champions but this was put under threat when in the 83rd minute Dest was given a second yellow card and if anything it galvanised Ajax more with Ziyach hitting the post and Grealish having a penalty appeal turned down. Franck de Boar was livid on the touchline but this was about to change as in the 1st minute of the 4 minutes added on En-Nesyri gave the ball to Ziyech, who the drilled in what looked like a hopeful cross and Razvan Marin was on the end of the hopeful cross to score the winner and send Ajax through but my god they were lucky.

Ajax finished the month off with a home match against FC Utrecht where Noussair Maxraoui replaced the suspended Dest, Marcos Rojo and Slobadan Rajkovic are quickly becoming de Boar's first choice centre back pairing and Siem de Jong again impressed in the attacking midfield role playing as a second striker. Grealish was moved out wide but was overshadowed by Ziyech. The thing Grealish gives you is that he gets fouled a lot. The Englishman won the two free kicks that resulted in the goals by Ajax in a 2-0 win.

Eridivisie Table


Ajax, Heerenveen and PSV all have 12 points but with Ajax only conceding 3 goals and scoring 13 goals it puts them top. AZ Alkmar have had a slow start finding themselves down in 7th place. ADO Den Haag have started well though and after 5 games are lying in 5th place.

Champions League Draw


Ajax have a difficult group in Liverpool, Red Bull Salzburg and Swiss side Young boys. Ajax should have the quality to finish second but Salzburg are going to prove tricky opposition and can Ajax defeat Liverpool? Time will tell.


PSV join Ajax as the second team in the champions league this season and it is safe to say that PSV have the group of death with Juventus, Atletico Madrid and the upcoming German side Red Bull Leipzig where PSV's chances are looking slim.

Player Of The Month


Quincy Promes has 4 goals, 3 assists and an average rating of 7.45 over all games this month. It is more about Promes's movement and pace that can draw defenders away to give space to the other players to get in on goal and gives them chances. Youssef En-Nesyri almost got the award but it is the all round performance of Quincy Promes that has netted him the award.
A good start here, will be interesting to see how your signings fit in but it looks very promising so far!
Good to see De Boer give some of the youngsters in Unuvar and Gravenberch some opportunities. A good start, a shame to lose to PSV but still top in what is looking a tight league early on. A reasonable Champions League group where you should be finishing second to go through!

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