Heitinga signs a 5-year deal at Atletico Madrid

March 25th, 2008 | By: Jan | 13 Comments »

24 year old Ajax defender John Heitinga will join buddy Wesley Sneijder in Madrid. With Atletico, that is. The Oranje defender is as happy as can be. “I am shaking on my legs, this is too good to be true. A great next step in my career.” Heitinga went through the whole Ajax youth system, with his Madrid-buddy Sneijder, after his family gave him an Ajax training as a present when a little kid. “They wanted me to stay and I’ve been trough the whole gamut of teams. Ajax is my second home and it will be very hard to leave. But I do hope everybody will grant me this. After 7 years playing in Ajax 1 I am ready for the next step.”

Heitinga’s contract at Ajax runs through till 2011 but he has a limited transfer sum of 11 Mio Euros in his contract. Atletico has agreed to pay that.

Heitinga will sign a 5-year contract in the Spanish capital.

“The fans don’t have to worry about my motivation. I’ll eat the grass till the last whistle. I had hoped to finish with the title, but that’s not happening. I had many great moments here, in particular the 2002 and 2004 titles. The biggest dip was my complex leg-injury, I suppose…”



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Username By Peter v | March 25th, 2008 at 8:55 am
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Think it’s a wise place for Heitinga to go – Should manage a first team place and will be playing for one of the top teams in one of the best leagues in Europe.

Posted from Germany Germany

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Username By goose | March 25th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
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thats true, pretty good idea to go to a sub top team..

im never really sure with Johny…he looks stupid enough to be a good defender and he has really grown since last season but im not sure still

should start a dutch bar in Madrid with all these dutchies

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

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Username By stephen | March 25th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
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Perfect for Heitinga. Not a top-class defender yet :-) , but better than average. To be signed by a good team in a great league will fit him well as he continues to learn his trade. This definetly benefits Oranje for WC2010. This is a good example for all the other young stars in Holland, be patient and practical, you don’t need to leave for ManU at 19yrs old. Learn all you can in the Dutch league, mature some and then go to quality teams in the best leagues. That is a much better approach than being signed too young and then sitting the bench for the next 2-3 years.

Posted from United States United States

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Username By dirk v.d berg | March 25th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
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Its perfect for Heitinga, because he won’t have to fight for a starting position, and he gets to play top class football, and maybe win some trophies with Atletico. Looking forward to seeing him play in next years Champion’s League.

Posted from Canada Canada

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Username By Jan | March 25th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
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Can someone share some insights regarding Atletico? I sort of lost track of them in the 90s when that horrible Gil Y Gil was the president and insulted our black Ajax players… :-)

Posted from Australia Australia

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Username By bobotoh | March 26th, 2008 at 12:16 am
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Good for Jhon Heitinga. Atl. Madrid is a top club, currently lying in 4th position in the Spanish La Liga (R. Madrid, Barcelona, Villareal, Atl. Madrid). I think they still have a chance of getting CL spot. Their position is better than Sevilla and Valencia.

Good!

Posted from Indonesia Indonesia

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Username By Jan | March 26th, 2008 at 12:36 am
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Right… Can you tell me who is their manager, which players of name play for Atletico and what type of football do they play?

Posted from Australia Australia

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Username By Jan | March 26th, 2008 at 1:03 am
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Say no more. I checked them on Wikipedia. Reyes, Motta, Forlan, Garcia…seems like a good outfit. I will put my disgust for that Gil Y Gil person aside (the man is dead now anyways) and start supporting them again. They’ve got a rich history prior to Gil Y Gil and they deserve to be looked upon without prejudice. Well done Johnny…

Posted from Australia Australia

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Username By simon | March 26th, 2008 at 3:38 am
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Yeah… though Reyes, Motta and Garcia doesnt play much. Their best players this season have mainly been Simao Sabrosa, Diego Forland and “Kun” Aguero.

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Username By ferenc | March 26th, 2008 at 10:09 am
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Jan: atletico is a pretty good team. zhey hate as much real as barca does. i’m a little bit scared about johnny’s future becazse atletico’s style is too latin for him with lots of south american top class players (maxi rodriguez and little wonder kun aguiero) with a mexican coach. they have forlan, too. they play (at least try to play) attractive and dominant football but conceed lots of goals. very rhapsodic team: they can beat everyone (4-2 against barca) but they are able to loose against teams like levante. flamboyant and romantic play. there is no constancy at atletico. this year they probably will get a cl spot which is good for johnny. i would say atletico is in the category of sevill,valencia (not the valencia of the beginning of the year but now). but maxi and kun are really world class players. a portuguese – simao sabrosa – is there as well. reyes is a sub and the public don’t like too much him because he played at madrid. their goallie is an ex-milan player: abbiati.

Posted from Hungary Hungary

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Username By ferenc | March 26th, 2008 at 10:17 am
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i would say that apart messi (and maybe iniesta) aguero is the best player in the liga. on the other hand the exodus from ajax is szill continuing… really hope that huntelaar won’t join real (and not because of real but dutch football needs a strong ajax which is not the case at the moment)

Posted from Hungary Hungary

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Username By simon | March 26th, 2008 at 10:21 am
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Cant agree with you there ferenc, about Aguero that is. He might be the most hyped up player except Messi, but he has a long way to go before he compete with RvN, Puyol, Ramos and the other top top players. But I agree with you about Huntelaar… but at the same time… in a couple of years, he might be the only real international striker we have… so he needs to move to a top club some day, to gain further qualities. I hope he goes to Italy because thats where I can see him fitting in the best.

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Username By dirk v.d berg | March 26th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
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Jari Litmanen scored a goal today, playing against Bulgaria. Strange seeing as he hasn’t played for Fulham yet, but he finds himself in the international team.

Posted from Canada Canada

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