'Euro 2004 hero' Charisteas commits to Ajax until 2008
23 December: Almost four months after the head over heels
departure of Zlatan
Ibrahimovic Ajax have finally landed a full-fledged
replacement: Angelos Charisteas, formerly of German Bundesliga
outfit Werder Bremen and Greece's goalscoring hero of Euro
2004, signed a contract at the Amsterdam ArenA today that will
tie him to Ajax until 30 June 2008. Ajax did not officially
reveal the transfer fee paid, but according to reports in the
Dutch and German press it is somewhere between 4.5 and 5
million euros.
Arie van Eijden helps Angelos
Charisteas display
his new, as yet unnumbered, shirt. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Ajax boss Ronald Koeman admitted several weeks ago that
Charisteas was at the top of his 'wishlist' of strikers. He
visited a Werder Bremen Bundesliga game several weeks ago and
had a private talk with the striker afterwards.
Charisteas, hardly ever a starter for the team
of coach Thomas Schaaf this season and unhappy with that
situation, was enthusiastic from the start. When talks
with Charisteas, his agent and Werder Bremen commenced it
did not take Ajax long to reach an agreement with the player
himself about the terms of his contract.
The transfer fee was a different story. On Wednesday 22
December Ajax's general director, Arie van Eijden, was quoted
by most Dutch media, saying that Ajax and Werder agreed - and
that the transfer was a done deal. Werder director Klaus
Allofs, however, denied this later that evening, after which
Ajax's financial director Jeroen Slop confirmed that both
clubs were "very close" to a deal, but not entirely there
yet. In anticipation of this, however, Charisteas already flew
to Amsterdam the next morning for his medical test at the
Amsterdam ArenA. The announcement that Ajax and Werder Bremen
had agreed on the transfer fee followed several hours
later, in the evening of Thursday 23 December.
Angelos Charisteas (born Serres, Greece, 09 February 1980)
started playing football for Greek amateur club Strimonikos
Serros in his town of birth, before making his début as
a professional for FC Aris Saloniki in 1998. He had nine
appearanced in his first half season as a pro, in which he
netted twice. He was then briefly loaned out to Athinaikos FC
(seven appearanced, one goal), before returning to Aris to
make his UEFA Cup début. In total he played 94 games in
Greece's top flight and scored 20 goals.
The tall center forward (1.91 meters, 6'3") drew the
attention of Werder Bremen in the summer of 2002. He moved to
the Bundesliga for a transfer fee of just over 2.5 million
euros. Charisteas was a starter for Werder for two
seasons: 31 games (9 goals) in 2002-2003 and 24 appearances (4
goals) in 2003-2004. The year 2004 would be the most
glorious of his career: he won the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) and
the Bundesliga championship with Werder and was selected by the
German coach who qualified for Euro 2004 with
Greece: Thomas Rehhagel.
The rest is history: the rock-solid Greek side surprised
everyone including themselves in Portugal and caused a major
upset by taking the trophy back home. The nation's #1 hero was
Angelos Charisteas, scorer of the only goal of the game in both
the semi-final and the final against hosts Portugal. Charisteas
is more of a goalgetter for Greece than he's been for his
clubs: for Greece he netted 13 times in 38 games.
His third season for Werder Bremen, however, would be a
disappointment. Charisteas sustained several minor injuries and
lost his starting slot to strikers Miroslav Klose, Ivan Klasnic
and Nelson Valdez. He only had 11 appearances in the first half
of the season, almost exclusively as a substitute.
Nevertheless, he managed 5 goals in the Bundesliga.
Unfortunately for Ajax, Charisteas also saw action in one
Champions League game (against Valencia), so that he is 'cup
tied' and not eligible for Ajax in the UEFA Cup.
After signing his contract at the Amsterdam ArenA,
Charisteas told the press that he was a happy man: "Ajax is a
step forward in my career. It's a European top club and I want
to win as many trophies as possible with them in the next three
and a half years. I talked to Yannis Anastasiou and Petri
Pasanen, who plays for Werder Bremen. Both told me that Ajax is
a truly fantastic club to play for."
Charisteas will begin training with Ajax on 04 January 2005.
In the new year it will also be determined what his jersey
number will be. (MP)
Sources: Ajax.nl, VI.nl, Werder-Online.de
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