"Merci et au revoir": Escude off to Sevilla
18 January: Julien
Escudé is no longer an Ajacied. The Amsterdam club
reached an agreement with Spanish Primera Division outfit
Sevilla on the transfer of the French defender.
Escudé, who lost his starting slot at the start of
the current season, will join Sevilla immediately. The
transfer fee to be paid by the Spanish club is 1.8 million
euros according to news sources in both The Netherlands and
Spain.
The career of Julien Escudé
(born Chartres, France, 17 August 1979) in Amsterdam had
remarkable ups and downs. Having played for French sides AS
Cannes (1998-1999) and Stade Rennes (1999-2003) he was
presented on
17 July 2003 as one of Ajax's major purchases for the
2003-2004 season. Although club and player strongly denied
that he was the 'successor' of Cristian Chivu, who was
unexpectedly sold to AS Roma nine days earlier, Escudé
was regarded as the Romanian's replacement by many
fans and journalists.
Escudé had a tough and
somewhat unfortunate start in Amsterdam: shortly after his
official Ajax-1 début (in the Champions League qualifier
at Grazer AK on 12 August
2003) he made a few major errors. After a couple of months
a part of the Dutch press and the Ajax support already
saw him as a 'bad buy', not good enough to
replace Chivu.
Escudé, however, refused to
bow his head. He felt happy in the Dutch capital (he
insisted on living in downtown Amsterdam, an unusual
choice for Ajax footballers) and was the by far most
devoted student during the obligatory Dutch lessons at the
Amsterdam ArenA. Moreover, he was praised for his
professionalism and work ethic. Unlike many of his younger
team-mates Escudé worked hard - individually - on his
shortcomings: his speed and his physical power, primarily.
In the second half of the 2003-2004
season his devotion started to pay off: his defending was
increasingly flawless and he became more confident on the
ball. His first season at Ajax (31 Eredivisie appearances,
1 goal) ended with the winning of the first major prize in his
career: the Dutch championship shield of 2004. Escudé,
by the way, missed the last few games due to an
ankle injury.
The 2004-2005 season was dramatic for
Ajax, but quite good for Escudé: he was one of
Ajax's best players from the outset, started scoring (5 goals
in the league) and was given the captain's armband. The tone in
the Dutch press had now changed completely: Julien
Escudé was, quite possibly, the calm future
leader Ajax were looking for. A bright future seemed
ahead. He was even called up for the French national team for
the very first time, although he remained a reserve and did not
get to make his début.
Just when every Dutch journalist and
Ajax supporter was convinced of the Frenchman's qualities, it
all went wrong at the start of his third season. In spite of
the fact that Escudé was the team captain and an
undisputed starter, rumour had it that Ajax's new
head-coach Danny Blind did not rate the left-footed defender,
who had a poor game against
Feyenoord, was held responsible for Dirk Kuyt's equalizer
and (so it turned out the next week) immediately lost his spot
in the team.
The 'Classic' of 28 August 2005 was
Escudé's last appearance for Ajax-1. He dropped back to
Young Ajax, sustained a persistent back injury and had to watch
most first team matches from the stands, even when he was fit.
The inevitable announcement that he was free to look out for
another club came from technical director Martin van
Geel, in the winter of 2005-2006.
A tough start, an impressive
resurrection and a sudden, unexpected downfall, under
a coach who had other preferences. That is the summary of the
Ajax career of Julien Escudé, the first Frenchman to
ever play for the Amsterdam club. In two and a half seasons
Escudé played 61 Eredivisie matches (6
goals), 5 domestic cup games and 15 games in UEFA
competition for Ajax, a total of 81 official appearances.
Ajax USA had the pleasure of
interviewing Julien Escudé in the press room of the
Amsterdam ArenA in February
2004. We know him as a very likeable person and
are very sorry to see him go. Julien, thank you for
everything and good luck in Spain. Your Dutch is now better
than our French ever will be, but here's something we want you
to know...
"Ce fut un privilège de
t'avoir dans notre équipe et nous te souhaitons le
meilleur pour la continuation de
ta carrière en Espagne. Merci pour tout et
bonne chance. Tu auras toujours notre soutien, partout
où tu iras." (MP; French message by Bertrand
Chardon)
Source: Ajax.nl
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