Stekelenburg: angry and disappointed

Special Request: a piece on Maarten Stekelenburg. To be honest: I don’t see the problem. Or I should say, I see the problem for Oranje, but that’s just how it is. If Vermeer is Ajax new first goalie and proves to the world that he is, that he should be Oranje’s number 1. The chap is good. At PSV, there’s a Swedish goalie, at Heerenveen a Belgium goalie. AZ has Argentine Romero and Feyenoord has Henkie.

So, to me it’s simple: either Stekel does well somewhere else and remains numero uno. Or he doesn’t and Vermeer is the new man. Or – and I wouldn’t mind that – Bert calls Sar and blackmails him.

But from the Stekel angle, he should start claiming an easy transfer. Why would Ajax do that? if Lindgren, Enoh or Sno is benched, their agents don’t storm into the Ajax offices? Truth be told: Stekel got injured and Vermeer did very well. Stekel came back but had lost 5 kilo’s due to some virus and was shaky in goal. Vermeer replaced him again, and again did very well. Marco wants to finish number 2 in the Eredivisie and wants a shot at the UEFA Cup. Stekel should stop moaning and be a man!

Here’s the article:

Maarten Stekelenburg: “I’m angry and disappointed. Am i motivated? No, not right now. But, life goes on…” He doesn’t want to compete with Vermeer. “You can’t rotate goalies. That simply doesn’t work.”

It’s not clear if Ajax wants to allow Stekel a soft exit in the summer. Marco van Basten has repeatedly stressed the urge for two strong goalies. “We’ve all seen what can happen in a season. I realize Maarten is disappointed, but in all honesty, Vermeer grabbed his chance. Now, Maarten has to show that he can be as good a second goalie as Kenneth was. He needs to stay positive and focused. He should grow from this.”

Bert van Marwijk keeps his faith in the goalie, for now. Stekelenburg is part of the preliminary group for Scotland, with Feyenoord’s Timmer and Utrecht’s Vorm.

Stekel’s manager Rob Jansen was already at Ajax’s offices to talk to manager Danny Blind. Whether Stekel wants to go for a low transfer sum to leave this summer, is not known for now.

And it’s the only logical option (Note: jan doesn’t think so). In a financial sense, it’s a big set back for Ajax. Last year the goalie signed a new deal, on the basis of which Ajax can ask 10 million euros. Normally, that is. But that’s a sum Ajax can’t ask anymore.

Van Basten is requested – with force – to look at the situation again, by his board. And his double role at Ajax (Marco is coach and technical director at the same time) requires that.

Van Basten: “I decided on the basis of technical aspects for the team. Kenneth is going through a phenomenal development and I don’t want to stop that.”

This could mean Ajax will need to sign two new goalies. If Stekelenburg will leave, he’s the second goalie to exit. Third goalie Dennis Gentenaar (ex-NEC, ex-Borussia Dortmund) clashed with Van Basten earlier on in the season when the coach picked Vermeer as second goalie. Gentenaar will leave transfer free.

Kenneth is looking down on Stekelenburg, who takes this picture…

When Van Basten was asked whether Van Marwijk should select Vermeer as first goalie for Oranje, he said: “That’s a good idea. But that’s not for me to say. It’s not my job anymore.”

The 23 year old Ken Vermeer sees his career go into overdrive. Last Thursday he expected his coach to pick Stekelenburg as first goalie. “I would have accepted that. For this season, I accepted the position as second goalie. Next season was supposed to be mine. It’s going quicker now and that is an enormous motivation. The trainer didn’t say this would be for the rest of the season, but I’ll make sure the spot is mine now.”

Van Basten: Vermeer did very well when Stekel was injured. And when Maarten was sick, again Kenneth did very well. He saved us against Fiorentina. Is this tough for Stekelenburg? Yes, but this happens at the amateurs as well. It’s harder because at Ajax, the whole world is witness and that makes it extra hard for him. But, I do expect Stekelenburg to support Vermeer like the latter did before.”

Vermeer looks back with mixed feelings at this first UEFA cup game, in which he was Ajax’ first keeper for the first time. “The results sucks. But I’m happy that I was part of it. I didn’t feel any extra pressure, but after the 1-0 I didn’t think: shit. Normally I would stop a ball like that, but it had a nasty bounce, right in front of me. The ball bounced higher up than normal. The 2-0 was a tougher one. It wasn’t unstoppable, I know, but sometimes you do enough and sometimes you miss that luck.”