Kennedy Bakircioglu pens four-year deal at ArenA
15 May: Kennedy Bakirçioglü will be
an Ajacied as per 01 July. The 26 year-old
midfielder of FC Twente penned a contract at the Amsterdam
ArenA today that will tie him to the Amsterdam club for four
seasons (until 30 June 2011). According to Voetbal
International Ajax paid Twente a transfer fee of one
million euros. "I am extremely happy," said the 'number
10', who can also play on the right flank. "Ajax are a
beautiful, big club and they play the offensive football
that suits me best. This feels very good."
Kennedy Bakirçioglü (born Sodertalje, Sweden, 02
November 1980) started his professional career in 1996 at
Assyriska Föreningen, in Sweden's second division. He
had only just turned 16 when he made his first team
début. In three seasons the teenager had 34 league
appearances for Assyriska, in which he netted 10 times. In 1997
he was invited on a brief try-out at Manchester United, where
he first met today's Ajax captain, Jaap Stam. The
energetic and creative midfielder did not win a contract at Old
Trafford, but had drawn the attention of Swedish top flight
outfit Hammarby IF and joined them in early 1999. In five
seasons at Hammarby, Kennedy played 127 matches
in the Allsvenskan, in which he scored 38 goals. In 2001 he won
the Swedish championship with Hammarby.
After a two-year spell at Greece's Iraklis Saloniki (34
games and 4 goals in the top division) Kennedy
Bakirçioglü was courted by FC Twente. He joined the
Enschede Eredivisie side in the summer of 2005 and almost
immediately impressed every follower of the Dutch league:
Kennedy Bakirçioglü is a creative, offensive
midfielder or right winger, but a hard-worker and a
box-to-box runner (Gabri style!) at the same time. In 66
Eredivisie matches for FC Twente he netted 23 times. He
finished the 2006-2007 Eredivisie campaign with 15
goals and 9 assists behind his name. He had one more
season on his contract at FC Twente, but Holland's
major clubs made Kennedy and Twente offers they couldn't
refuse.
The player, who uses his first name Kennedy as his 'football
name', chose Ajax, much to the delight of technical director
Martin van Geel: "We've been following him closely ever since
the departure of Mauro Rosales. Apart from being a great
footballer, we also think that he's a lad who will fit
into our squad very well."
As far as Kennedy ever had doubts, a good mate gave him
the final push: "I've heard some very positive stories
about Ajax from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is a good friend
of mine. I really look forward to the upcoming years and I hope
we can make the supporters happy." (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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