0405a.html

Didulica signs three year contract at Austria Vienna

05 April: Joey Didulica, Ajax goalkeeper and a very special friend of Ajax USA, will play for Austria Vienna for the next three years. In early February, the 25 year-old Australian could not reach an agreement with Ajax about the terms of a new contract in Amsterdam, after which he decided to move on at season's end.

The news was announced by Didulica himself, Friday afternoon at the Amsterdam ArenA, after he had received a confirmation call from his agent. "The negotiations are finally over. I look forward to playing in Europe for three more years and also to living and playing in Vienna."

"It's a club with a lot of history and their bank account looks pretty good at the moment", Didulica continued, "they want to be succesful in Europe and the Champions League in the upcoming years. They're serious about it. They signed [Christoph] Daum last season, who's taken a few teams to the top as a coach. I hope to become part of a very succesful team."

Coming from Australian side Melbourne Knights, Joey Didulica joined Ajax in 1999. He played in Young Ajax for a few seasons and was also loaned out to Germinal Beerschot Antwerp in Belgium for a few months. After his return to the ArenA, his made his first team debut under coach Ronald Koeman on 15 December 2001. At the start of this season, 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. However, Didulica almost immediately lost his spot to Bogdan Lobont as the latter recovered from his injuries.

Joey Didulica gained some prominence in Europe with excellent Champions League performances in the away games against Olympique Lyon and Valencia CF. In the months following those games, several clubs from Spain and France were 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.

"Ajax has been my life for the last four years. I've grown enormously as a goalkeeper, but also as a person. Will Coort, the goalkeepers' coach, and Ronald Koeman are very good coaches. They've taught me a lot. But now I will have to take German lessons." (MP)

(Source: Ajax.nl)