Van Damme contract extended until summer 2007
12 November: Ajax has extended
the contract of a third player in a couple of weeks' time.
After Abubakari Yakubu and Tomás Galásek, Belgian
defender Jelle Van Damme (20) was tied to the Amsterdam club
for a longer period. Ajax extended his contract until 1
July 2007; his exisiting contract included the option for
Ajax to do so. The club did not reveal the financial details of
the deal.
The offering of a new contract to the young Belgian
illustrates the fact that Ajax is pleased with the development
of Van Damme, even though he is not yet a regular in the
starting line-up of the first team. The year 2003 was a good
year for Van Damme. He played his first two internationals for
Belgium this year and made an excellent impression on both
occasions. For Ajax he had several appearances in the UEFA
Champions League, in which he proved to be an increasingly
reliable factor in the Amsterdammers' defensive line.
Coming from Belgian First Class outfit Germinal
Beerschot Antwerp (in which club Ajax had a majority stake at
the time) Van Damme joined Ajax in February 2002, initially on
a try-out. He played for Young Ajax in his first year, but got
to make his first team début in the final weeks of the
season, in the Eredivisie away game at Sparta (14 April 2002),
thereby becoming an Ajax-1 player just in time to witness the
winning of the Dutch championship of 2002. He also won the
Dutch reserves championship and the Amstel Malt Cup for
reserves teams with Young Ajax.
In total, Jelle Van Damme has had 27 first team appearances
so far: 14 in the Eredivisie and 9 in the UEFA Champions
League. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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