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The 'Van der Vaart affair': shadow over Portugal trip

23 January: As Ajax left Lisbon today, headed for Egypt, the dust seemed to have settled. Nevertheless, the conclusion is inevitable that Ajax's Portugal trip was overshadowed by the awkward situation caused by Arie van Eijden's public remarks about contract negotiations between Rafaël van der Vaart, his agents and the Ajax board. The following is a chronologic round-up of events...

For the outside world, the affair unexpectedly surfaced on Monday 06 January, when chairman Michael van Praag and general director Arie van Eijden held their New Year's speeches at the club's youth ground De Toekomst, adjacent to the Amsterdam ArenA. The latter surprised his audience by revealing several details from the contract of "one of our most talented players", as well as several points of discussion from the contract talks currently taking place between Ajax and the agents of the player involved. The following quotes are literal translations from Van Eijden's speech, which was published on the club's official website, Ajax.nl:

"A renowned sports magazine recently announced that one of our most talented players is still on some sort of a youth contract. Taking into consideration that the average salary in the Holland Casino Eredivisie is some 250,000 euros, and that this player - who is still very young indeed - is paid considerably more than that, it is fair to say that the information reaching our supporters is obviously incorrect.

Of course, if the position of this player in the hierarchy of the squad, a club has a moral obligation to stick out its neck and - in order to make sure that the player will stay for a few more years - make a considerably improved offer for his long-term contract. The player's agent, however, thinks that this player should make twice as much money as Ajax's best paid player (a player, by the way, whose business is dealt with by the same agent!), whereas the highest player's salaries will have to be slightly lowered, given the enormous deficits in European club football.

I almost forget to add that, although the salary will have to be twice as high, the agent wants a considerably lower transfer fee than the current one to be included in his contract. Because, you see, the transfer market is no longer what it used to be. Do you understand, ladies and gentlemen? Sometimes, I don't."

Although the name of Rafaël van der Vaart was not mentioned by Van Eijden, it was crystal clear that the director was referring to him and his agents, former Ajax players Sjaak Swart and Søren Lerby. Reportedly, only the latter was involved in the negotiations with - on behalf of Ajax - technical director Leo Beenhakker.

The next day, Van der Vaart reacted on Amsterdam's AT5 television, with a remarkably calm and nuanced comment: "Surprised? Yes, you can say that again. He [Van Eijden, ed.] was not even there during the first few talks we had. And then he just tells people how much money I make and the things we talked about. That disappointed me. But we should not let this escalate and allow this thing to become a big affair. We will continue to talk and an agreement will be reached, I'm sure. All we have to do now is play well in the Dutch league and in the Champions League. I did not ask for twice as much money as the best paid player. This makes me look like some kind of money-grabber. That hurts."

Van der Vaart seemed much angrier in some of the articles that appeared in the Dutch press the next morning, in which he was quoted saying that he felt "humiliated" by Ajax.

Head-coach Ronald Koeman did not comment on the affair during the first days. He did add Van der Vaart to the squad for 'Portugal', as other injured players (such as John O'Brien and Maarten Stekelenburg) were to stay behind in Amsterdam. "Rafaël needs to be with the team now", Koeman said. "That's good for his moral at this point."

Meanwhile, technical director Leo Beenhakker reacted to Van der Vaart's remark that he did not demand a salary twice as high as that of the best paid player. For the record: this is, currently, Nikos Machlas, who (according to newspaper de Volkskrant) earns some 1.5 million euros a year, not including premiums and bonuses. In newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, Beenhakker was quoted saying: "Twice as much as the best paid player is what they demanded. We have that on paper."

Beenhakker continued to say that he agreed with the point made by Van Eijden and the fact that he started a discussion about the role played by player agents in contract negotiations. "I talked with Van der Vaart personally, and Ronald Koeman did so, too.We still hope to reach an agreement with Lerby, but he will really have to moderate. Times have changed in football. No-one can deny that."

On Sunday 19 January, the day after Ajax's win over Aberdeen FC (2-1), Ronald Koeman spoke out in Portugal, stating that he was "very unhappy" with Van Eijden's remarks. The coach said, in newspaper Algemeen Dagblad: "As a coach, you hope there'll be peace and that everyone can focus on football for eight days. I don't have the impression that the group is too upset by it, but you do notice that this affair is a hot issue. They talk about it more than they do about the games. Meanwhile, it gnaws at Rafaël himself, of course. I think you should discuss these things behind closed doors. A situation of unrest is created this way, which is totally unnecessary, based on our sporting results."

And, in Het Parool:

"Right now, it's predominant over the football. No coach in the world would want that."

Technical director Leo Beenhakker apparently changed his mind. He, too, was now quoted saying that Van Eijden should not have used his New Year's speech for remarks like these, and that "maybe it was rather awkward" that he did. Van Eijden himself, in Amsterdam, meanwhile: "I just wanted to make a general statement."

Paul Onkenhout, one of Holland's most renowned football columnists, revealed his thoughts in his weekly column in de Volkskrant:

"When Van der Vaart claims that it's nonsense that he wants twice as much money as the best paid Ajacied, I believe him. Meanwhile, however, I assume that Van Eijden did not make this up. And when Beenhakker says that the demand was not a joke and that it was in fact put on paper by Van der Vaart's agents, I believe him, too.

Van der Vaart's is represented by Søren Lerby and Sjaak Swart. It is highly likely that he doesn't have the faintest notion of what these two are up to, what they're discussing with Ajax and what numbers are thrown at the table. In this game, he's just a pawn, kept ignorant of what's really going on."

There was no news for a couple of days until, on Monday 20 January, Dutch media reported that Ajax has offered Van der Vaart's agents to double his current salary, adding that it's not true that Van der Vaart still hardly makes more money than a youth player.

Reportedly, he currently makes some 750,000 euros a year, not including premiums and bonuses. If that is correct, the new offer would make him Ajax's top earner, albeit not the only one. The reports also announced that Van der Vaart still would prefer to stay at Ajax for at least one or two more seasons, and that he does not intend to leave at season's end.

To be continued... (MP)

(Sources: Ajax.nl, de Volkskrant, Het Parool, Algemeen Dagblad, AT5 TV)