Siem de Jong pens contract renewal ‘til 2013
16 January: 
Siem de Jong's tender career in Ajax-1 may be described as meteoric. That is reason enough for the club to offer the 18 year-old midfielder an extended and improved contract, which De Jong happily accepted today. His new deal will be effective on 01 July 2008 and makes him an Ajacied until 30 June 2013. De Jong's current deal would have expired in the summer of 2010.
Overwhelming problems in defense forced head-coach Adrie Koster to play Siem de Jong as a right fullback against AZ, last Sunday, but De Jong's natural position is in midfield. He made his official Ajax-1 début on 26 September 2007, in the KNVB Cup game at Kozakken Boys – and got playing time in almost every official match after that. He currently has 13 first team appearances behind his name, in which he scored two vital goals: a last minute equalizer at Sparta Rotterdam and Ajax's second at De Kuip, in the Classic against Feyenoord.
A child of Dutch parents, Siem de Jong was born in Aigle, Switzerland (28 January 1989), where he spent the first six years of his life and started to play football for a local amateur side. After the family's move to Doetinchem, in the eastern Netherlands, he joined amateur club DZC '68, where he was soon discovered by scouts of the local professional club, De Graafschap. De Jong was courted by Ajax in 2005 and entered the Amsterdam club's youth system. Nice little detail: in spite of his unfolding football career, Siem de Jong finished high-school – and it was the same one in Doetinchem Klaas-Jan Huntelaar also graduated from.
De Jong's fine performances for Ajax did not go unnoticed: coach Foppe de Haan called De Jong up for Young Oranje's 16 November 2007 match against Young Macedonia. De Jong played the full 90 minutes. (Menno Pot)
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