"Tack, Markus" - Dream transfer to Werder for Rosenberg
25 January: The Ajax career of Markus Rosenberg
has come to an end. The Swedish striker, out of favour in
Amsterdam, has penned a contract at German powerhouse SV Werder
Bremen, currently the league leaders in the Bundesliga and
Ajax's next opponent in the UEFA Cup. Rosenberg will not be
eligible for those games, having already seen action in UEFA
competition for Ajax this season. Rosenberg's
contract would have expired in the summer of 2009. The
transfer fee paid by Werder Bremen officially remains
undisclosed, but is believed to be either 2.5 million euros
(Dutch newspapers Algemeen Dagblad and De
Telegraaf) or 3 million euros (German football magazine
Der Kicker).
Markus Rosenberg (born Linhamn, Sweden, 27 September 1982)
was presented as Ajax's new striker on
06 June 2005. He came from Malmö FF (52 league games,
8 goals in total), had been loaned out to Halmstads BK (26
games, 14 goals) and signed a deal for four seasons at the
Amsterdam ArenA.
The Swede made his official début in the Champions
League qualifier at Brøndby IF on
10 August 2005 and immediately scored his first goal,
but his start in Amsterdam was not easy. Rosenberg needed time
to adjust to Ajax's 4-3-3 formation, in which he was
supposed to play as the 'number 9', in the middle. He was
dropped from the starting line-up in the fall and was now
behind Angelos Charisteas and veteran Yannis
Anastasiou in the pecking order.
The
19 November 2005 home game against FC Twente was the
turning point: Rosenberg was brought on as a
substitute, scored a fine goal and started to improve.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was bought during the winter break and
Rosenberg was told to focus on the position of left
winger. Un unlikely position for the Swedish international, but
he made the most out of it: as a left forward, he netted
seven times in the first seven league games after the
winter break. For the first time since his arrival his
starting slot was beyond dispute. Rosenberg's first season as
an Ajacied was a satisfactory one after all: he saw action in
31 league games and scored 12 goals, mostly after the
winter break.
Just as everybody was convinced of Rosenberg's
qualities, a new head-coach (Henk ten Cate) took over at the
Amsterdam ArenA and it is hardly an exaggeration to say that
Rosenberg was almost immediately out of favour. Kenneth Perez
had been purchased and Ten Cate made it no secret that he
firmly believed in the qualities of Ryan Babel, a
'striker on the left', just like Rosenberg. Rosenberg, his
confidence at an all-time low, saw action in a number of
Ajax's less prestigious games in domestic and international cup
competition, but failed to impress the boss who did not seem to
believe in him anyway.
The purchase of
Leonardo, in December 2006, confirmed what everybody
already knew: Henk ten Cate sees no future for Markus
Rosenberg, who was not even on the bench during Ajax's
first games of 2007. His last official appearance for Ajax was
on
30 December 2006, against NEC in Nijmegen. His last
'unofficial' appearance was in the
14 January 2007 friendly at Ajax Cape Town. In
total, Markus Rosenberg had 63 official appearances for Ajax.
He netted 20 times.
SV Werder Bremen is a dream club for Rosenberg, who -
according to reports in the German press - will earn 1.5
million euros a season at the Weser Stadium. Good for him, the
Ajax supporters will think, for Markus Rosenberg was a popular
player at the ArenA: low-maintenance, hard working and
with the open mind you'd expect from a Swede. In the
end, Rosenberg didn't quite make it in Ajax's red and white.
Nonetheless Markus, it was a privilege to have you here.
Tack så mycket - and give 'em hell in
Germany! (MP)
Sources: Ajax.nl, Algemeen Dagblad
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