No permanent Ajax contract for Juanfran
25 April: Ajax have decided not to offer Juanfran a
permanent contract. The Spanish left-footer, who joined Ajax on
loan from Turkish giants Besiktas, will leave the Amsterdam
club at season's end. The loan deal included to option for Ajax
to buy Juanfran, but the left fullback apparently did not make
enough of an impression on Ajax's technical staff.
Juan Francisco 'Juanfran' García (born Valencia,
Spain, 15 July 1976) joined Ajax on
12 August 2005, expecting to see Champions League action
and draw the attention of the coaching staff of the Spanish
national team. Juanfran had been succesful at
Valencia CF, Celta de Vigo and (in the first months after he
moved there) Besiktas, but lost his spot in the team when
Spanish Besiktas manager Del Bosque was fired.
Juanfran was presented as a big signing in Amsterdam, but
the start of his career at the ArenA was bitterly
disappointing. The player was in a poor physical state,
suffered from injuries and had unexpectedly stiff
competition from Ajax's young revelation of the season, Urby
Emanuelson. He finally made his official Ajax-1 début on
24 September 2005, in the Eredivisie home game against Roda JC,
but picked up a red card in a Young Ajax game in October
shortly thereafter and was handed a suspension
of three games.
His chance in the first team finally came in early December,
when Emanuelson picked up an injury, and Juanfran
seemed to grab it. He played well and, for a number of weeks,
seemed to add the experience and physical power Ajax expected
from him. After the winter break, however, Juanfran lost his
spot to Emanuelson again and failed to deliver what may be
expected from a player of his caliber. Ajax decision to let him
go at season's end did not come as a surprise.
In total, Juanfran had only 21 appearances for Ajax: 16
in the Eredivisie, 3 in the Champions League and 2 in
the Gatorade Cup.
On Wednesday evening, when Ajax play FC Groningen in the
second round of the Eredivisie play-offs, Ajax and the ArenA
crowd will get to say goodbye to six departing players:
Juanfran, Yannis Anastasiou, Hans Vonk, Steven Pienaar, Hatem
Trabelsi and - on the night of his 200th official appearance
for the club - Tomás Galásek. Surprisingly, Ajax
will not yet say goodbye to Nourdin Boukhari. The club are
currently in talks with the midfielder about an unexpected
renewal of his contract. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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