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"All's well that ends well": Van der Vaart signs new contract

21 February: The 'soap opera' about Rafaël van der Vaart's contract talks have come to a happy ending. The 20 year-old midfielder and acknowledged goalgetter signed an improved contract expiring in the summer of 2006. Included in the contract is Van der Vaart's official promise not to leave Ajax before the summer of 2004.

Ajax's technical director, Leo Beenhakker, was delighted about the agreement reached: "In spite of all the fuzz in the media about this affair my personal talks with Søren Lerby (Van der Vaart's agent, ed.) have always taken place in a good and professional atmosphere. It is fantastic for Ajax that Rafaël will still be playing for us next year. This adapted contract means that, if there may be foreign interest in Rafaël, he can not and does not want to take to it."

Van der Vaart himself was a happy man also: "I am very happy. We've finally gotten rid of all this twaddle. Actually, apart from a few small things, the talks have been okay. I never thought we weren't going to find a way out of this, as I always wanted to play for Ajax for another year. It's a relief. Now I can focus on football again with an 'empty mind' as they say. And now, I'm going to get fit first, and then throw a little party."

Rafaël van der Vaart was born in the town of Heemskerk, near Amsterdam, and is a product of the Ajax youth ranks. He made his Ajax-1 debut on 19 April 2000 in an Eredivisie away game at FC Den Bosch. He since played 57 league games for Ajax, in which he scored an amazing 28 goals. In total he played 73 official games for Ajax, scoring 37 times. In his tender career he already won his first 'double' with Ajax (2002), made it to the second group stage of the Champions League and made his official debut for the Dutch national team. His current three Oranje caps will not be his last.

Van der Vaart is an outstanding talent, but also an injury-prone player. In each of his two seasons with Ajax-1 a persistent muscular injury kept him sidelined for months, or at least weeks. He is currently recovering from an injury, but went back in training with the group last week. His return to Ajax-1 action is expected soon.

In the first week of January, an unexpected crisis occurred in his contract talks with Ajax, as general director Arie van Eijden openly (but without mentioning his name) referred to Van der Vaart's salary demands. Van Eijden was heavily criticized by players, fans, board members as well as head coach Ronald Koeman.

Last week, Leo Beenhakker was quoted saying that he had a "good feeling" about the contract talks with Van der Vaart, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Hatem Trabelsi, but that he was "not as positive" about the development in the negotiations with Steven Pienaar. (MP)

(Source: Ajax.nl)