Litmanen contract dissolved with immediate effect
09 April: The contract of Jari Litmanen has been
dissolved by Ajax with immediate effect, at the special request
of the player himself. This means that his 26 minute
appearance in the Eredivisie away game at FC Twente, on 21
December 2003, was the very last time for the Finn to wear the
Ajax jersey in an official game. Ever.
Litmanen's contract would have expired on 30 June of this
year. It seems like the decision to dissolve it
immediately was taken by mutual agreement. Since it was
announced that Litmanen's contract at Ajax was not
going to be extended, there have been persistent rumours
that Finnish side FC Lahti is interested in signing Litmanen.
As the Finnish league kicks off in a few weeks' time it seems
well possible that Ajax releases Litmanen immediately for this
reason. These rumors are as yet uncomfirmed.
A news report on the official Ajax website reads: 'Out
of respect for the 33 year-old forward Ajax provides him with
the opportunity to look elsewhere and to think about his future
in football. A cooperation between Ajax and Litmanen in some
way in the future certainly is a possibility. Ajax and the
Finn will consider together how Litmanen can say goodbye to the
supporters in an appropriate way.'
With this statement Ajax seems to strongly deny that
Litmanen's untimely departure has anything to do with the fact
that Litmanen saw action for his national team on Wednesday 31
March, in the friendly away match at Malta, in which Litmanen
played for fifteen minutes and even scored thr decisive 0-2 for
the Finns. Ajax boss Ronald Koeman admitted that this annoyed
him, as Litmanen left Amsterdam injured. In an interview with
newspaper Algemeen Dagblad Koeman claimed to have told
Litmanen not to play: "Jari had some business to take care
of, so we let him go. Before he went I said to him:
'You're not going to play, are you?' He left the answer
aside. Then I saw on teletext that he'd scored.
Yeah, probably in training, I thought... And now, once
again, he can not play for Ajax."
Today's announcement from the Amsterdam ArenA means that the
Ajax supporters will not get what they were hoping for: a few
more glimpses of Litmanen in Ajax-1 and possibly even a goal or
two. His last official appearance for Ajax was on
21 December 2003. He last scored for Ajax in the
village of Ermelo, in the 19 July 2003 pre-season friendly
at DVS '33. He
netted his very last official goal for Ajax in the
Eredivisie away game at NEC on 11 May 2003.
On behalf of everyone at Ajax USA: thank you, Jari.
Thanks for all the years and thanks for coming back, although
it didn't bring us (or you) what we were all hoping for.
Good luck wherever you go next. And, obviously, we count on
another return to Ajax in the future! (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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