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Joey Didulica to leave Ajax at season's end

03 February: Ajax and Australian goalkeeper Joey Didulica have decided to discontinue the contract negotiations. Didulica's contract expires at season's end. He reportedly had the intention to extend his contract, but a new financial agreement was not reached. Didulica, a special friend of Ajax USA, will leave Ajax at season's end.

According to Dutch newspaper Het Parool it was Didulica's choice to quit the talks and say 'no' to Ajax's offer. He claims that Ajax made only one offer, in October. The comment of the 25 year-old Australian on that offer: "I would not even belong to the top fifteen of best paid players in the squad."

Didulica says he regarded Ajax's offer as a lack of appreciation. "It started to feel like some kind of fight," he said in Het Parool. "Now everyone knows what the situation is. Clubs can contact me. And Ajax can start searching for a new goalkeeper."

Coming from Australian side Melbourne Knights, Joey Didulica joined Ajax in 1999. He was loaned out to Ajax's Belgian satellite club Germinal Beerschot Antwerp for a few months, and played in Young Ajax for a few seasons, before making his first team debut under coach Ronald Koeman on 15 December 2001. When Fred Grim decided to quit, Didulica seemed to have won a slot in the starting eleven. In the first half of this season, no Ajax goalkeeper played as many minutes as Didulica.

He gained some prominence in Europe with excellent Champions League performances in the away games against Olympique Lyon and Valencia CF. Several clubs from Spain and France are said to be interested in the Aussie's services.

In total, Joey Didulica played sixteen Eredivisie games and four Champions League games for Ajax-1.

Coach Ronald Koeman is sorry that an agreement could not be reached with the club. "The technical staff would have preferred to continue with him, Lobont and Maarten Stekelenburg (...) But if I need him, and he continues to play like he did last year, I surely won't ignore him." (MP)

(Sources: Ajax.nl, Het Parool)