Comments on: Run up to the OS: meet Nordin Amrabat

By: Jan

Jan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:10:30 +0000

Really?? Aissati doesn’t surprise me. De Haan and Aissati aren’t getting along and Aissati wants to make a fresh start at Ajax and is probably not that motivated to go. With Amrabat, I’m not sure what the story is… Maybe PSV put pressure on the KNVB?

By: j

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:03:12 +0000

just as an update to this – to the surprise of many Nordin Amrabat and Ismail Aissati were released from the Olympic squad today.

By: bobotoh

bobotoh — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:21:23 +0000

As a football fan, I am also concerned with the youth development at Ajax academy. Ajax academy is very famous. The last time they produced world class players were Sneijder and Rafael VdV. After that, Ajax just bought new players, not produce players. Ajax must produce players, not just buy new players.

By: Michel-Olivier

Michel-Olivier — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:27:26 +0000

psv is the wrong club for nordin, he should of went to ajax because next season is going to be a special year with san marco in charge.

By: j

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:31:44 +0000

Great post! – Nordin Amrabat is a brilliant midfielder on the attack and shows good tactical vision. He had a superb season for Venlo last year and quite honestly I expected to hear him courted by more European clubs but was very pleased to see him land with PSV.

By: finnster01

finnster01 — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:04:49 +0000

@Michel; well maybe that is part of the problem at Ajax buying talent from cheaper countries. Either way, I don’t care about nationality but the days of grooming world class players through the Ajax system seems to be pretty gone. That is sad for me as an Ajax fan, but equally sad for Dutch football I believe. Having all this young talent (3 U-21 players just signing up for English Prem) sitting on th bench can not possibly do well for their development. It may do well for their wallet, but I am not sure if staying in Ersedivisie for another year or two is a better thing to do. I don’t like it, but that is my opinion.

As far as the 6+5 rule goes (which is illegal anyway unless FIFA change the wording to 6+5 coming up from the development of the club and rule out nationality, but even that is dodgy as it implies putting limits on ability to work. Another Bosman ruling coming up on that one eventually).

Anyway, as far as I am concerned it doesn’t really matter, but if you look at the top (club) teams in Europe, this is going to be an issue for all of them.

Bottom line for this proposal, all large national teams with big leagues benefits, not sure if the smaller ones really do as they depend on developing talents to export eventually and the national team benefits from their experience playing in the big leagues. e.g. Norway would never get there if they hadn’t exported the Solskjaers, Flo’s, Riise, Carews of the world. And for Oranje, an average footballer like Staam (In my opinion) certainly didn’t hurt from playing for Man U. He would not have the staure he has if that didn’t happen. Tractor driver and tatoos or not.

By: Michel-Olivier

Michel-Olivier — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:26:50 +0000

@ Goose/finnster01
development department is fine. When clubs by foreign players it’s hard for youth/home grown players to break through. why do you think blatter want to pass 6+5 rule. in south america and africa the clubs are poor they dont have money to buy foreign players, so they depend on youth/home grown players. However clubs from europe and arabian peninsula are rich they can buy any players they want. when clubs have people like abramovich, buying foreign players has no limit. look at arsenal one english player out 23, it’s ridiculous.

By: goose

goose — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:39:11 +0000

@finnster; im pretty sure FIFA rules say that only the exemption players can choose not to go…the others are obliged to do so

as for the youth development; think Cruijff is right….just look at the numbers…like you said; they used to have almost all the talents, no very few come through

maybe it went wrong when Ajax went to the stock exchange and they were buying more and more players from abroad for the succes on the short term?

again; Babel should stay at home

By: finnster01

finnster01 — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:51:29 +0000

@Michel: I am still very concerned about what has happened to the Ajax development departement. Certainly is not what it used to be. At least half of Holland used to be Ajax, especially U-21.

@Jan & Goose; has the other clubs caught up talent development wise or is it Ajax making a dog’s breakfast out of it as JC claims?

Regarding Babel, Benitez has a midfield problem. With Mascherano and Leiva out playing the Olympics, he is not going to be happy to let Babel go vfor the first 2 games of the season. Either way, Babel is not going to be matchfit after his injury so maybe Rafa will let him go anyway. Better matching than ‘pool friendlies, but maybe too much after an injury. Interesting problem. Just want to see Babel fit & back as soon as possible.

Anyone actually know for sure what the rules are regarding call-ups for the Olympics? I hear different things, some sites say that the clubs don’t have to release players as the Olympics is not on FIFA’s schedule. Some other sites says that it only applies to the 3 “exemption” players (older ones) and as Goose says, they have to release the young ones. Anyone knows exactly the truth here?

By: Michel-Olivier

Michel-Olivier — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:17:16 +0000

@ goose
young dutch players should never go to psv. they all should go to ajax or feyenoord.