Ajax finally signs Tom Soetaers from Roda JC
14 August: After a week of negotiations, Tom Soetaers
finally signed a four year contract today at Ajax. The reason
for the delay was the possibility of a 'swap deal' of Soetaers
for Ajax's Wamberto. This was Roda's desire, but Ajax
coach Ronald Koeman didn't want Wamberto to go. Roda
JC, in its turn, wasn't interested in Ajax 'cast-offs'
Cedric van der Gun or Nourdin Boukhari. The conclusion of the
negotiations: Soetaers (23) moves to Ajax, while no Ajax
player moves to Kerkrade.
Tom Soetaers. [Photo:
ANP]
It is unknown how much Ajax paid for the Belgian
international. As usual Ajax didn't reveal the transfer
fee. However, rumor has it that if Wamberto would
have been involved in the deal, the additional fee to be
paid by Ajax would have been approximately 2.5
million euros. As no Ajax player is moving to Kerkrade
now, the fee must be higher than that. Soetaers is the sixth
purchase of Ajax this season and - along with
Nicolae Mitea - the second left winger bought.
It was clear that Ajax wanted to buy another left winger, a
position that strangely enough is not too
'thinly populated' position in the team. With Wamberto,
Victor Sikora, Nourdin Boukhari and Nicolae Mitea, Ajax has a
lot of 'lefties', although Mitea is to be regarded as a
long-term investment. Even Cedric van der Gun,
meanwhile, can play on the left side of the field.
Ajax seemed to be after a right winger for a long
time. Nigerian Uche Kalu was the main candidate, but his Polish
employer refused to let him go. Ajax went after Soetaers
instead. Yesterday, Koeman even mentioned the name of former
PSV player Boudewijn Zenden, who would have become an option if
the Soetaers deal had been called off.
The name of Soetaers was heard in the Amsterdam ArenA
last season, but in the end Ajax chose for Vitesse's
Victor Sikora instead. The Dutchman, however, hasn't perform
very well and has been injured frequently. Now he will have to
battle with Soetaers, Wamberto and perhaps Mitea for a
position, although it is likely that one of the four will move
to the right side: Ajax is lacking a right winger after the
departure of Andy van der Meyde.
Soetaers played seven matches for Belgian side Anderlecht
before he moved to Roda JC in 1999. At Roda he played 98
official matches in which he scored 23 times. In 2000 he won
the Amstel Cup with Roda JC, beating NEC 2-0 in the final.
Since October 2002, Soetaers has made six appearances as a
Belgian international, scoring once.
Should Ajax face AC Milan this season in the Champion League,
Soetaers will share some of the revenge motivations of his new
Ajax colleagues. The year before Ajax was unluckily pushed
out of the Champions League tournament, beaten in the last
second, Soetaers and Roda JC came close to eliminating AC Milan
in the UEFA Cup. The Italian team was lucky and won on
penalties, after both legs ended in 1-1.
Soetaers is the third Belgian player at Ajax. Left back Jelle
Van Damme and newcomer Wesley Sonck came before him. A trend?
Tom Soetaers doesn't think so. "It has more to do with
technical qualities, rather than nationalities."
(BV)
Source: Ajax.nl, AT5
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