Jan Vertonghen commits to Ajax until summer 2011
03 January: It's 'contract talk time' at the Amsterdam ArenA
and the first player to have signed a new deal is Jan
Vertonghen. The 19 year-old Flemish left-footer,
whose existing deal would have expired in the summer of
2008, signed a renewed and improved contract today, effective
01 July 2007, which will make him an Ajacied until 30 June
2011.
In 2005, Jan Vertonghen (born Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, 24
April 1987) made the jump from Germinal Beerschot Antwerp
(no longer Ajax's 'satellite club' but there is still
a partnership and an exchange program for youth players)
to the Ajax youth system. After having played for the B1 and A1
youth sides at De Toekomst, Vertonghen was officially added to
the Ajax-1 squad by head-coach Henk ten Cate this summer
after a string of fine performances in pre-season.
Vertonghen's official first team début was
on 23 August 2006, in the traumatic Champions League
qualifier against FC København. In
total, he had six first team appearances: three in the
Eredivisie and three in UEFA competition. It was, however, a
goal for Young Ajax that made him 'famous' throughout the
country: in the 20 September 2005 cup fixture against Cambuur
Leeuwarden, Vertonghen flabbergasted the crowd, the opposition
and himself, by
'accidentally' scoring from 45 yards out in an attempt
to politely pass the ball back to the Cambuur goalkeeper
after injury treatment...
Jan Vertonghen is the first Ajacied to renew his contract
this month, but - quite probably - not the last. The club are
currently talking to four more players with contracts until
2008, namely John Heitinga, Ryan Babel, Kenneth Vermeer and
Edgar Manucharyan. According to Dutch football weekly
Voetbal International, meanwhile, Ajax are planning to
loan Jan Vertonghen out to an Eredivisie side for the remainder
of the season. NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam are said to be
interested in the youngster's services. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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