2013-2014 Champions League & Europa League Thread - Page 114

On February 21 2014 06:30 sitromit wrote:
Is Ajax over emphasizing developing talent and selling them for huge sums, at the expense of more success at the higher level? They're a big club and I imagine they have money, shouldn't they buy some expensive players, or at least not always sell the good ones to other clubs if they want to do better in European competition?

On February 21 2014 07:35 warding wrote:
Porto fans have been feeling a bit unhappy about their team lately. Do check out Quaresma's goal though. He's back to his old form.

On February 21 2014 06:39 Ysellian wrote:


I believe they were forced to sell their best players due to short contracts, but why they didn't reinvest the money I'm not sure. An ajax fan would likely know more.

edit: Lol porto from 2-0 up it suddenly became 2-2

Rough week for the Premier league:
Manchester City = no goals.
Arsenal = no goals.
Tottenham = no goals.
Swansea = no goals.
Premier League = no goals.

On February 21 2014 09:16 Twisted wrote:
lol man we got sooo owned. I was watching with a buddy and we were truly dumbfounded and laughing our asses off at how amazingly good Salzburg was playing. And then that wondergoal (3-0), amazing. I'm still somewhat shell-shocked at how good they were in that first half. Constant pressing, they destroyed us harder than Real Madrid did in the last few years. Not that we were playing well, but this was just pure and utter domination like no other team has done in recent memory. We just started watching a tv-show from the 65th minute, no use in watching more xD

Anyway, as for the question that was asked, yeah Ajax has some money, but they prefer to not buy players that don't raise the overall level of the team and they have a salary-cap. They prefer to invest a lot in youth development and just replace guys like Eriksen and Alderweireld with new talent from the youth division like Klaassen and Veldman (who both got pre-selected for the Netherlands - France friendly on 5th of March btw). They simply can't buy better players than they develop themselves, because they're simply not affordable. They might pick up some talents this summer though. 17 year old big talent from Groningen (Zivkovic) will likely sign for Ajax and Ziyech from Heerenveen, also big talent, is linked with a move to Ajax.

Yeah historically they're a big team, but nowadays with a budget of around €70m you can't just buy together a squad (which wouldn't work anyway). I prefer the way they're handling it. They just play in a good system (the Ajax system) with good positional play throughout the youth academy all the way up to the first team, so every player from the youth division can seemingly just enter the first team and play ball. This is also why a lot of talents choose Ajax (for less money) over a big club in England etc.

On February 21 2014 09:16 Twisted wrote:
lol man we got sooo owned. I was watching with a buddy and we were truly dumbfounded and laughing our asses off at how amazingly good Salzburg was playing. And then that wondergoal (3-0), amazing. I'm still somewhat shell-shocked at how good they were in that first half. Constant pressing, they destroyed us harder than Real Madrid did in the last few years. Not that we were playing well, but this was just pure and utter domination like no other team has done in recent memory. We just started watching a tv-show from the 65th minute, no use in watching more xD

Anyway, as for the question that was asked, yeah Ajax has some money, but they prefer to not buy players that don't raise the overall level of the team and they have a salary-cap. They prefer to invest a lot in youth development and just replace guys like Eriksen and Alderweireld with new talent from the youth division like Klaassen and Veldman (who both got pre-selected for the Netherlands - France friendly on 5th of March btw). They simply can't buy better players than they develop themselves, because they're simply not affordable. They might pick up some talents this summer though. 17 year old big talent from Groningen (Zivkovic) will likely sign for Ajax and Ziyech from Heerenveen, also big talent, is linked with a move to Ajax.

Yeah historically they're a big team, but nowadays with a budget of around €70m you can't just buy together a squad (which wouldn't work anyway). I prefer the way they're handling it. They just play in a good system (the Ajax system) with good positional play throughout the youth academy all the way up to the first team, so every player from the youth division can seemingly just enter the first team and play ball. This is also why a lot of talents choose Ajax (for less money) over a big club in England etc.

On February 21 2014 13:16 Rebs wrote:


Yeah kinda sucks that dutch clubs are in small markets, maybe one day long after we are gone you will get your sugar daddies

On February 21 2014 16:56 sitromit wrote:

Isn't there a limit to how much sugar daddy money Red Bull can pour into Salzburg with the FFP regulations?

On February 21 2014 07:35 warding wrote:
Porto fans have been feeling a bit unhappy about their team lately. Do check out Quaresma's goal though. He's back to his old form.