Ajax unmatched

Dutch club is Europe's top talent assembly-line

This is a column I've been wanting to write for some time, but it's been pretty darn difficult because every few weeks the subjects change.

I was going to write about Ajax's outrageously gifted youngsters. First, I was going to focus on Rafael Van der Vaart, Zlatan Ibrahimoivc and Christian Chivu.

Then, Mido, Andy Van der Meyde and Petri Pasanen came out of the woodwork. A short while later it was Steven Pienaar, Maxwell and Nigel De Jong. Now, I can't write this piece without mentioning Jelle Van Damme and Wesley Sneijder.

I better write this quickly before Stefano Seedorf or some other precocious phenom bursts onto the scene, because it's time to salute Ajax, the club with the most young talent in Europe and, possibly, the world.

Mailbag

If you'd like to submit a question to Gabriele Marcotti, please enter it below.

Your name: Your E-mail Address: Your Hometown: Enter Your Question:

All of the above are 23 or younger, Mido, Van der Vaart, Van Damme, Sneijder and De Jong are teenagers -- yet they all play like veterans.

Conventional wisdom used to be that young players, no matter how talented, needed to mature and gain experience. Sure, there were exceptions -- Diego Maradona, Pele, Ronaldo, Paolo Maldini, Raul and Michael Owen to name a few -- but we're talking about superstars here, and they tend to come along once in a generation.

Ajax, however, seems to buck that trend: Their youngsters get thrown into the first team and immediately excel. Witness the Ajax side that held Arsenal -- one of the top three teams in Europe -- to a 1-1 draw Tuesday night. The starting 11 included six players under the age of 22, three of whom are still teenagers.

The club has always been an assembly-line of talent, and it hasn't been shy about giving youngsters their first team debuts at a tender age.

Ever wonder why Johan Cruyff wore No. 14 his entire career? Because that's how old he was when he first played for Ajax.

Two factors set this latest crop apart, however.

First, the sheer quantity. The numbers are simply staggering. No other club would have even attempted to integrate so much youth into the first team in such a short time span. Ajax not only attempted, it succeeded as well.

Second, this group, like Ajax as a whole, is a genuine multinational, with players from five different continents represented. Indeed, of the 11 players mentioned at the beginning of this column, only four are actually Dutch.

Ajax's scouts have done a sterling job in searching far and wide for young talent, bringing promising kids to Amsterdam well before adulthood -- including American World Cup midfielder John O'Brien, a starter before going down in September with an injured Achilles tendon.

It's a model that has been copied by many clubs, but none have been as proficient in making it work for them.

These players bring with them their own footballing heritage, no matter what country they're from, but, at the same time, they are very much Ajax players, schooled in the Ajax way. Which means passing-oriented, attacking soccer, with players who are comfortable on the ball regardless of what position they play.

This formula is working wonders for manager Ronald Koeman, but can it work elsewhere?

The answer is: probably not -- at least not in the big four European leagues. To achieve this sort of setup, you need to invest heavily on youth development -- not just locally, but globally -- and you need to history and prestige to back it up. An Osasuna or a Charlton or a Piacenza simply don't have the resources or cachet to do it.

The bigger clubs can, of course, attempt to emulate Ajax (and many try), but they hit against a different hurdle: The constant demand for immediate success.

Throwing youngsters, especially foreign ones, into the first-team is a rarity because few clubs have the courage to leave out their big name players. Guys like Nicola Beati at Inter or Jermaine Pennant at Arsenal may be outrageously gifted teenagers, but they simply can't crack the lineup because, in this age of large squads, there are simply too many highly paid veterans ahead of them.

Managers are also reluctant to gamble on youngsters because the stakes are simply too high. When it does happen -- witness Manchester United in the mid-1990s, when David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt became starters almost overnight -- it's the exception that confirms the rule.

Ajax, however, has shown a willingness to gamble, perhaps because the Dutch league is less demanding (no matter how poor the results, it's unlikely the side will fall out of the top four), perhaps because the fans have a greater appreciation of the club culture.

It's likely, therefore, that Ajax will remain an isolated case, though with the current cash crunch some clubs will be forced to turn to youth simply because it's cheaper.

Whether Ajax's strategy will yield silverware in the long run remains to be seen. Already Ibrahimovic, Chivu and Van der Vaart are among the most coveted players in Europe and will probably move in the next six months. But then, this has always been a selling club and the fans have come to accept it.

For now, they're just proud of the fact that they are the premier talent assembly-line in Europe and, perhaps, the entire world.

Good week/Bad week

GOOD WEEK: Barcelona, who set a new record in winning its 11th straight Champions League game with a 3-0 victory over Inter Milan. Now all Raddy Antic needs to do is clean up Louis Van Gaal's mess and get Barca back where it belongs domestically.

BAD WEEK: David Beckham, who got hit in the face by a shoe kicked by Sir Alex Ferguson in the manager's post-defeat tantrum after Manchester United's loss to Arsenal. The freak incident bordered on the absurd, but it neatly sums up Sir Alex, a man who simply can't stand for defeat. Any other boss would have found himself in serious trouble, forced to make an apology and explain himself to his employers. But then Ferguson is a different case. When you've won more trophies than any coach in the history of the game, you tend to get away with things.

GOOD WEEK: Carlos Bianchi, who began his second stint at Boca Juniors with a 2-0 win over Nueva Chicago. The old master spurned Barcelona to return home, and his presence is already galvanizing Boca.

BAD WEEK: Klaus Toppmoeller, who was fired as coach of Bayer Leverkusen after a terrible run of results. He remains an enigma: Seven months ago he led Bayer to within a point of the Bundesliga title and 90 minutes of the Champions League crown. Now, he leaves a club on the edge of relegation. A horrible run of injuries and losing arguably his two best players to his biggest rival (Michael Ballack and Ze Roberto joined Bayern Munich over the summer) clearly did not help, but that alone can't explain Bayer's plight.

Gabriele Marcotti covers international soccer for SI.com.

 

Related information

Stories

Previous Marcotti Columns and Mailbags

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video