karennina
ciffirt
- Nov 24, 2004
- 2,820
- 1,032
Found this on Glory Glory, though if 'tis an article or a post am not sure. Surely this guy or Diarra would give us an option to play an effectively defensive midfielder that we don't have at the moment?
Reports from Holland today have linked two of Ajax's players with moves away from Amsterdam with the possible destination being the Premiership. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported today that Urby Emmanuelson, Ajax's first choice left back, is being tracked by Tottenham whilst the defensive midfielder Hedwiges Maduro's refusal to sign a new contract at the club has put several Premiership clubs on red alert for a move in the New Year.
It seems as if Ajax are in danger of loosing two of their most talented players in Emmanuelson and Maduro both of whom have contributed heavily to the fine start the the club has enjoyed to life in the Dutch League. The current league leaders have the chance of being 'Winter Champions' if they can beat Excelsior on Sunday despite the poor start to the season when they were knocked out of both the Champions League and UEFA Cup and suffered the loss of their coach Henk ten Cate, who left to form part of the backroom staff at Chelsea.
Emmanuelson was part of the Dutch U-21 team that retained the European Championship title for that age group and has also been called up to the Dutch national squad playing in the recent qualifiers for Marco van Basten, taking his total to 9 caps for his country. Since breaking into the Ajax first team at age 17, 4 seasons ago, he has grown into a first choice for the club at left back and his runs down the left side to support the attack as well as his defensive qualities form a real asset to the side.
The 21 year old has now caught the attention of Spurs, who are looking to improve their options down the left side, after former PSV left back Lee Young-Pyo hasn't been able to fulfil expectations since he arrived at the club whilst Gareth Bale, who came to the club in the summer from Southampton, has proved a useful, but injury prone, addition to the club.
According to Emmanuelson's agent Brian Berkleef Spurs have already approached him to sound out his client's willingness to move on going on to say that "Indeed I did speak with Urby about it (the move to Spurs) and indeed he likes the idea of a move to Spurs". However Ajax may not be quite so open to a move and will now doubt slap a steep transfer tag on his head.
One player who might be leaving for less in defensive midfielder Hedwiges Maduro. The young Ajax midfielder broke through into the Amsterdam first team at roughly the same time as Emmanuelson and was seen at the time as the most talented player in quite a while. However, recently his form has dipped as speculation has mounted regarding an extension to his contract and although there has been a new contract lying on the table for him to sign the deadline for that to be completed passed yesterday.
Whilst Ajax are disappointed that their young starlet hasn't committed to a new deal to take him beyond summer 2008, the player himself explained the delay by saying that he wasn't happy with the deadline Ajax had set and wanted to see who would be taking over the reigns of the club in the summer when interim trainer Adrie Koster is due to leave.
With the possibility of the player leaving Ajax for free in the summer the club have now put the midfielder up for sale in the hope of generating some sort of fee. Given that he could leave for free in the summer the chance to purchase a Dutch international midfielder, who has 12 caps to his name at a knock-down price, has alerted several clubs to his availability around Europe, including several unnamed Premiership teams.
One possible destination for Maduro, who has nearly 60 appearances for Ajax, is Portsmouth if they do loose Sulley Muntari in the transfer window to Liverpool. Maduro is broadly the same kind of player, excellent at screening the defence as well as getting forward, something that prompted Ajax to move him from the defence into the midfield.
Liverpool meanwhile could be looking at options if they either can't extend Javier Mascherano's loan deal from West Ham or if Momo Sissoko leaves in January as reported here and Benitez may return to Ajax, from whom they purchased Ryan Babel in the summer, to bolster his midfield ranks.
West Ham have suffered something of an injury crises in the midfield department this season with the loss of Kieron Dyer early on in his West Ham career to a broken leg, plus the extended period of absences of both Freddy Ljungberg and Scott Parker for large parts of the early season, so may be attracted to Maduro to improve their options in this department.
Finally Newcastle have been heavily linked with Barcelona midfielder Edmilson, but will face some stiff competition for his signature if the Catalans agree to let the Brazilian player leave, most notably from PSG. If their move for Edmilson falls through they also may consider a move for Maduro.
What is certain is that Ajax won't have to much trouble moving the midfielder on and will be hoping that the interest in the player will result in an auction thus increasing his value.
Reports from Holland today have linked two of Ajax's players with moves away from Amsterdam with the possible destination being the Premiership. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported today that Urby Emmanuelson, Ajax's first choice left back, is being tracked by Tottenham whilst the defensive midfielder Hedwiges Maduro's refusal to sign a new contract at the club has put several Premiership clubs on red alert for a move in the New Year.
It seems as if Ajax are in danger of loosing two of their most talented players in Emmanuelson and Maduro both of whom have contributed heavily to the fine start the the club has enjoyed to life in the Dutch League. The current league leaders have the chance of being 'Winter Champions' if they can beat Excelsior on Sunday despite the poor start to the season when they were knocked out of both the Champions League and UEFA Cup and suffered the loss of their coach Henk ten Cate, who left to form part of the backroom staff at Chelsea.
Emmanuelson was part of the Dutch U-21 team that retained the European Championship title for that age group and has also been called up to the Dutch national squad playing in the recent qualifiers for Marco van Basten, taking his total to 9 caps for his country. Since breaking into the Ajax first team at age 17, 4 seasons ago, he has grown into a first choice for the club at left back and his runs down the left side to support the attack as well as his defensive qualities form a real asset to the side.
The 21 year old has now caught the attention of Spurs, who are looking to improve their options down the left side, after former PSV left back Lee Young-Pyo hasn't been able to fulfil expectations since he arrived at the club whilst Gareth Bale, who came to the club in the summer from Southampton, has proved a useful, but injury prone, addition to the club.
According to Emmanuelson's agent Brian Berkleef Spurs have already approached him to sound out his client's willingness to move on going on to say that "Indeed I did speak with Urby about it (the move to Spurs) and indeed he likes the idea of a move to Spurs". However Ajax may not be quite so open to a move and will now doubt slap a steep transfer tag on his head.
One player who might be leaving for less in defensive midfielder Hedwiges Maduro. The young Ajax midfielder broke through into the Amsterdam first team at roughly the same time as Emmanuelson and was seen at the time as the most talented player in quite a while. However, recently his form has dipped as speculation has mounted regarding an extension to his contract and although there has been a new contract lying on the table for him to sign the deadline for that to be completed passed yesterday.
Whilst Ajax are disappointed that their young starlet hasn't committed to a new deal to take him beyond summer 2008, the player himself explained the delay by saying that he wasn't happy with the deadline Ajax had set and wanted to see who would be taking over the reigns of the club in the summer when interim trainer Adrie Koster is due to leave.
With the possibility of the player leaving Ajax for free in the summer the club have now put the midfielder up for sale in the hope of generating some sort of fee. Given that he could leave for free in the summer the chance to purchase a Dutch international midfielder, who has 12 caps to his name at a knock-down price, has alerted several clubs to his availability around Europe, including several unnamed Premiership teams.
One possible destination for Maduro, who has nearly 60 appearances for Ajax, is Portsmouth if they do loose Sulley Muntari in the transfer window to Liverpool. Maduro is broadly the same kind of player, excellent at screening the defence as well as getting forward, something that prompted Ajax to move him from the defence into the midfield.
Liverpool meanwhile could be looking at options if they either can't extend Javier Mascherano's loan deal from West Ham or if Momo Sissoko leaves in January as reported here and Benitez may return to Ajax, from whom they purchased Ryan Babel in the summer, to bolster his midfield ranks.
West Ham have suffered something of an injury crises in the midfield department this season with the loss of Kieron Dyer early on in his West Ham career to a broken leg, plus the extended period of absences of both Freddy Ljungberg and Scott Parker for large parts of the early season, so may be attracted to Maduro to improve their options in this department.
Finally Newcastle have been heavily linked with Barcelona midfielder Edmilson, but will face some stiff competition for his signature if the Catalans agree to let the Brazilian player leave, most notably from PSG. If their move for Edmilson falls through they also may consider a move for Maduro.
What is certain is that Ajax won't have to much trouble moving the midfielder on and will be hoping that the interest in the player will result in an auction thus increasing his value.
mg:
