[img]https://fmshots.com/image/wCewaO[/img]
Ajax does the unthinkable and has their best ever season in the Dutch Eredivisie going invincible with 28 wins, one more than Louis van Gaal’s infamous unbeaten Ajax team of the 94/95 season! Despite a knock-out in the Champions League quarter finals against Feyenoord alumni Arne Slot’s Liverpool, Ajax’s unexpected double is a contender for the club’s best ever season; certainly the most unexpected! How did they do it?
After Francesco Farioli’s heartbreaking end to the 24/25 season where Ajax almost miraculously won the Eredivisie after being expected to fight for a spot at third, the Ajax management decided change was needed. The squad was unbalanced, the culture of the club strayed too far from what the club once stood for. It was time for Ajax to return to glory. Back to where they belong.
[img]https://fmshots.com/image/wCeyMp[/img]
The giant-killers of the 18/19 squad and the champions league winners of 95. Young, talented and legendary squads. De Ligt, Tadic, De Jong, Reiziger, Kluivert, Litmanen. What do these squads have in common? They were both a surprisingly similar mix of veterans, youngsters and prime-aged talent, with a real core of Ajax Academy players.
[img]https://fmshots.com/image/wCeWAD[/img]
The 18/19 starting eleven in the match against Real Madrid had 5 players aged 22 or under. The 95 squad had 5 in their champions league final win as well. Both matchday squads also had two players above the age of 30. When we analyse the entire squad we see that they are similar as well, from where we have created a goal to aim for:
We want to have a group of 26 players; a starting eleven, a backup for each position, and 4 extra players covering each position-group. Of these players, 14 must be 21 or younger and a maximum of 4 can be veterans aged 28 or up. This leaves us with 8 players in their prime years between 22 and 27. Looking at the aforementioned squads it’d be a more logical choice to group the players in age groups of 22-, 23-29 and 30+, but to encourage the development of talent we have made these guidelines slightly more strict.
[img]https://fmshots.com/image/wCe3lo[/img]
The second part of building a winning Ajax squad is getting a core of Ajax Academy players. Age groups are one thing; their heritage another. Of the 11 players starting the Champions League final in 1995, only two were non-academy players; Litmanen and George, from the Finnish and Nigerian leagues respectively. In 18/19 David Neres, Tagliafico and Onana were players from foreign leagues, and Tadic, Ziyech, Schöne and de Jong were also non-academy players but they were bought from another Eredivisie Team.
Ideally our future Ajax will strive to reach the Champions League final with 9 Academy products, but this is near impossible in today’s age of football. Therefore we’ll look at the 18/19 season’s entire squad and base our guidelines largely on that.
Ten Hag’s squad had 11 academy products, 7 players bought from other Eredivisie teams, and 8 foreign players. To encourage more academy talent to get a chance, we’ll strive for the following:
12 Academy Products
7 Players from the Eredivisie
7 Players from a Foreign League.
Going over the amount of 12 for academy products is a good thing. 7 is the max for the other two categories.
With this in mind we look at the 25/26 squad.
[img]https://fmshots.com/image/wCeGRM[/img]
This just shows how unbalanced the current Ajax squad is. Lots of older players and lots of foreign talent. Not a bad thing per se, but not what suits Ajax’s club culture, past and future.
Werk aan de winkel.
Game Setup
Ajax does the unthinkable and has their best ever season in the Dutch Eredivisie going invincible with 28 wins, one more than Louis van Gaal’s infamous unbeaten Ajax team of the 94/95 season! Despite a knock-out in the Champions League quarter finals against Feyenoord alumni Arne Slot’s Liverpool, Ajax’s unexpected double is a contender for the club’s best ever season; certainly the most unexpected! How did they do it?
After Francesco Farioli’s heartbreaking end to the 24/25 season where Ajax almost miraculously won the Eredivisie after being expected to fight for a spot at third, the Ajax management decided change was needed. The squad was unbalanced, the culture of the club strayed too far from what the club once stood for. It was time for Ajax to return to glory. Back to where they belong.
[img]https://fmshots.com/image/wCeyMp[/img]
The giant-killers of the 18/19 squad and the champions league winners of 95. Young, talented and legendary squads. De Ligt, Tadic, De Jong, Reiziger, Kluivert, Litmanen. What do these squads have in common? They were both a surprisingly similar mix of veterans, youngsters and prime-aged talent, with a real core of Ajax Academy players.
[img]https://fmshots.com/image/wCeWAD[/img]
The 18/19 starting eleven in the match against Real Madrid had 5 players aged 22 or under. The 95 squad had 5 in their champions league final win as well. Both matchday squads also had two players above the age of 30. When we analyse the entire squad we see that they are similar as well, from where we have created a goal to aim for:
We want to have a group of 26 players; a starting eleven, a backup for each position, and 4 extra players covering each position-group. Of these players, 14 must be 21 or younger and a maximum of 4 can be veterans aged 28 or up. This leaves us with 8 players in their prime years between 22 and 27. Looking at the aforementioned squads it’d be a more logical choice to group the players in age groups of 22-, 23-29 and 30+, but to encourage the development of talent we have made these guidelines slightly more strict.
[img]https://fmshots.com/image/wCe3lo[/img]
The second part of building a winning Ajax squad is getting a core of Ajax Academy players. Age groups are one thing; their heritage another. Of the 11 players starting the Champions League final in 1995, only two were non-academy players; Litmanen and George, from the Finnish and Nigerian leagues respectively. In 18/19 David Neres, Tagliafico and Onana were players from foreign leagues, and Tadic, Ziyech, Schöne and de Jong were also non-academy players but they were bought from another Eredivisie Team.
Ideally our future Ajax will strive to reach the Champions League final with 9 Academy products, but this is near impossible in today’s age of football. Therefore we’ll look at the 18/19 season’s entire squad and base our guidelines largely on that.
Ten Hag’s squad had 11 academy products, 7 players bought from other Eredivisie teams, and 8 foreign players. To encourage more academy talent to get a chance, we’ll strive for the following:
12 Academy Products
7 Players from the Eredivisie
7 Players from a Foreign League.
Going over the amount of 12 for academy products is a good thing. 7 is the max for the other two categories.
With this in mind we look at the 25/26 squad.
[img]https://fmshots.com/image/wCeGRM[/img]
This just shows how unbalanced the current Ajax squad is. Lots of older players and lots of foreign talent. Not a bad thing per se, but not what suits Ajax’s club culture, past and future.
Werk aan de winkel.
Game Setup
