And another one! De Jong joins Hamburger SV
26 January: Yet another Ajacied has left the club in
the January transfer window. Nigel de Jong was sold
to Bundesliga side Hamburger SV today, where he will be
re-united with Rafaël van der Vaart. De Jong's Ajax
contract would have expired on 30 June of this year. The
midfielder recently decided not to renew his deal and leave
Ajax on a 'Bosman'. By selling De Jong six months earlier Ajax
receive a transfer fee for De Jong after all: 1 million euros,
reportedly.
Nigel de Jong (born 30 November 1984) is a born and
raised Amsterdammer. He started playing football as a
young child for amateur side Neerlandia, was discovered by Ajax
scouts at a very young age and played for Ajax youth teams
in almost every age category. He was part of the memorable
Young Ajax 'Class of 2002' that won the reserves championship
and made it to the semi-final of the 'big' Amstel Cup.
His first team début was a matter of time. He made it
on 19 October 2002 in the
Eredivisie home match against AZ, a game that many Ajax
fans will remember: it was the game of Jari
Litmanen's homecoming. De Jong adjusted easily
and became a first team regular. On 18 February 2003 he
introduced himself to football fans around the world by scoring
Ajax's spectacular equalizer (and his first ever Ajax-1
goal!) at Higbury against Arsenal. A golden career
in the Ajax jersey seemed ahead.
It would be an exaggeration to say that it all went downhill
after that, but the conclusion is inevitable that De Jong
never became the great leader of the team people expected him
to become. He never became a key player for the team. In
fact, he never became an undisputed starter. In the months
after his 'big break' he disappeared from the spotlights for a
while, as coach Ronald Koeman felt he was walking with his head
in the clouds and needed to get his feet back on the
ground.
On 31 March 2004 De Jong became the
100th Ajacied to make his début for
Oranje, the Dutch national team. In the 2003-2004 and
2004-2005 seasons he saw action in almost every game, but not
always at the same position and not always a
starter, although everybody agreed that De Jong was a
player who could 'win a game' for his team: under head-coach
Danny Blind he played a key role in Ajax's remarkable
resurrection towards the end of the 2004-2005 season. His goals
against
AZ on 10 April 2005 showed Ajax the way to the second
slot on the table. In the current season, Ajax would probably
not have been in the second round of the Champions League if it
wasn't for De Jong's last-minute winner at
FC Thun and his brace of goals against
Sparta Prague.
Even under Blind, however, his inconsistency remained. De
Jong felt a victim of his own versatility and it was that
feeling that made him decide to not renew his
contract. Almost immediately after he had announced his
decision, he was linked with a string of clubs from
Europe's greatest leagues: Manchester United, Arsenal, Borussia
Dortmund, Sevilla, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur - they
were all mentioned. De Jong chose for HSV from Hamburg, after
96 Eredivisie appearances for Ajax (8 goals), 15 domestic cup
matches (1 goal) and 30 games in UEFA competition (5 goals). In
total: 141 official appearances for Ajax-1, in which he netted
14 times.
Nigel de Jong was one of the very few born Amsterdammers in
the squad. Ajax USA regrets that he leaves his club at such a
young age, but wishes him well all the same. Nigel, good luck
in Germany and... we have a feeling you will return home one
day! (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
Related links
