No contract extension for Jari Litmanen
29 March: The inevitable has been officially confirmed
by Ajax today: at season's end the club will once again say
goodbye to the most popular non-Dutchman to ever have
played for Ajax, Jari Litmanen. The Finnish Ajax legend, who
returned to Ajax in August of 2002, will not be offered an
extension of his contract. That fact that
Litmanen was almost permanently injured this
season was the main reason for Ajax's decision.
Jari Litmanen. [Photo:
ANP]
"We deeply regret it that Ajax now has to say
goodbye to Jari," said general director Arie van Eijden, "but
due to physical problems he unfortunately has been unable to
bring what everyone was hoping for in the past two years. His
limited availability was a reason for Ajax to not extend
his contract. It is regrettable for the club and for Jari
himself that he has been unable to play more games. We
sincerely hope that he will be able to play a few more matches
this season, so that he can finish his career as an Ajax player
in a dignified way."
Jari Litmanen (born on 20 February 1971 in Lahti,
Finland) played for Finnish outfit MyPa before he was
discovered by Ajax scouts in the early 1990s. He made his first
team début on 23 August 1992 in the Eredivisie home game
against Go Ahead Eagles (3-1). He initially played as a right
midfielder or right fullback. However, he made his 'big
break' as he moved to central midfield, to play in the
tactically crucial 'number ten' position of the Ajax system at
the start of the 1993-1994 season. Litmanen scored 26
Eredivisie goals that season and was a key player in Ajax's
winning of the Dutch championship.
With Litmanen as its supreme superstar and fan hero,
Ajax was an almost unbeatable force in Dutch and
European football in the years thereafter. In total Jari
Litmanen won four Dutch championships with Ajax, as well as
three Amstel Cups and three Dutch Super Cups. The year 1995
also saw the winning of the Champions League, the European
Super Cup and the World Cup for club teams. Alongside captain
Danny Blind, Jari Litmanen stayed in Amsterdam considerably
longer than most other members of the 'Class of '95'. They said
goodbye at the end of the disappointing 1998-1999 season and
received a historically emotional homage at the Amsterdam ArenA
on 16 May 1999.
Litmanen moved on to FC Barcelona and also played for
Liverpool FC. In those years, however, the suffering started.
As the age of thirty approached, Litmanen became more
injury-prone. It was one of the reasons why he never was a
starter for either Barça or The Reds for a long
period.
His return to Ajax, which was officially confirmed on 30
August 2002, came as a surprise and caused euphoria amongst
Ajax supporters. The start was promising: Litmanen played
superbly and scored in the away game at Feyenoord
(06 October 2002), added two more goals two weeks later in
the home game against AZ (19 October 2002) and
revived the 'good old days' by scoring an unforgettable goal in
the Champions League home fixture against AS Roma
(10 December 2002). There was no doubt on anyone's mind
that Litmanen had something to add to Ronald Koeman's talented
but young and inexperienced Ajax team.
But Litmanen's old ankle and hamstring injuries
returned and it is hardly an exaggeration to say that they
never went away. This season the Finn had only six
Eredivisie appearances, playing a meager 152 minutes in total.
He was brought on as a substitute in three Champions League
games, all of which were lost. Litmanen did not score a
single goal in an official game this season. The last time he
netted was on 19 July 2003, in the pre-season friendly at
amateur outfit DVS
'33 in Ermelo.
Litmanen's sad statistics for the 2003-2004 season,
however, should not distract from the greater picture. In total
Jari Litmanen played 179 Eredivisie games for Ajax, in which he
netted 96 times. He scored 9 times in 19 domestic cup
games and an impressive 24 goals in 53 European matches. In
total: 129 goals in 251 official games for Ajax.
According to several Dutch newspapers, Ajax would like
to offer Litmanen a job within the club, possibly as a
youth coach or as an Ajax 'ambassador'. Voetbal
International, meanwhile, claims that the Finn does not
yet want to call it quits as a player and that Finnish outfit
FC Lahti is interested in signing him. Both of these
rumours are as yet unconfirmed. The Ajax supporters, meanwhile,
will surely organize a great last hurrah for one of their
all-time heroes.
Last week Ajax announced that John O'Brien will also be
informed whether or not to expect a new contract offer from
Ajax. Like Litmanen, the American has been injured most of the
time this season. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf
reported on Saturday that O'Brien can stay, but this news is as
yet unconfirmed. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl, De Telegraaf, Voetbal
International
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