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Richard Witschge returns to Ajax next season
25 March: During a meeting at the Amsterdam ArenA, Ronald
Koeman and technical director Leo Beenhakker have told Richard
Witschge that he'll be a member of the Ajax-1 selection again
next season, immediately after which the news was announced by
Ajax.nl.
The return of Witschge (32) does not come as a surprise.
Koeman already gave several hints in recent interviews in the
Dutch media. Witschge left Ajax last August, just before
season's start, after continuous conflicts with coach Co
Adriaanse. He was loaned out to Spanish Primera Division side,
Deportivo Alavés, for which he played 22 games and
scored one goal. He still has a contract with Ajax until 01
July, 2003.
His conflicts with Richard Witschge is regarded as one of
the reasons for Co Adriaanse's dismissal, on 29 November. A
typical Amsterdammer and 'old school' Ajacied, Witschge is
enormously popular amongst Ajax fans. Adriaanse was heavily
criticized by fans, media and Ajax board alike for the way he
treated Witschge. Witschge himself, just before he left, said
on AT5 Television that he would never play for Ajax again, as
long as "that guy" Adriaanse was still there.
Richard Witschge made his debut for Ajax on 26 August 1986,
in an away game at AZ (1-6). He spent five seasons at Ajax. He
was a key player in the young team that surprisingly won the
Dutch championship of 1990. He was contracted by Johan
Cruijff's FC Barcelona that summer.
Witschge never secured a place in the team and decided to
join French giants, Girondins de Bordeaux in 1993. He spent
three years in southern France, interrupted by one season on
loan at Blackburn Rovers, England.
He returned 'home', to Louis van Gaal's Ajax, in 1996, ten
years after his debut for the Amsterdammers. He won the Dutch
championship of 1998 and the Amstel Cups of 1998 and 1999 with
Ajax. In total, Richard Witschge played 258 official games for
Ajax, in which he scored 17 goals. He also played 30 games for
the Dutch national team (1 goal). (MP)
(Source: Ajax.nl)
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