Improved contracts 'til 2007 for Sneijder and Heitinga
12 December: This Friday was 'contract extension
day' at the Amsterdam ArenA: hours after coach Ronald Koeman
signed a contract until 2006, two of Ajax's most
gifted youngsters committed to the club until the summer of
2007: midfielder Wesley Sneijder (19) and defender John
Heitinga (20). Ajax, in its turn, offered both players a
considerable, but as usual undisclosed pay-raise.
Wesley Sneijder (b. Utrecht, 09 June 1984)
already had a contract until the summer of
2007, but was still on a 'rookie's salary'. Improvement
of the financial conditions of his contract was a logical
step, as the midfielder's fame has
been rising rapidly ever since he made the step from
Young Ajax to the first team on 07 January 2003: he
made his Ajax-1 début in the Eredivisie away game at
Willem II (0-6) on 02 February and was selected
selected for the Dutch national team shortly thereafter on
30 April. In his third Oranje game he was
Holland's superstar in the recent 6-0 win over Scotland that
brought the Dutch a ticket to Euro 2004 in Portugal, after
which he was almost automatically linked to Italian giants such
as AC Milan.
Sneijder started playing football at renowned Utrecht
amateur side DOS, but was scouted by Ajax at a young age and
passed through every stage of the Ajax youth system. He played
25 U-21 games for Holland in total, was voted 'Player Of The
Year' in his age category while playing in Ajax A1 and
subsequently became a member of the tremendously succesful
Young Ajax crop that won the Dutch championship for reserves
teams in 2002 and made it to the semi-finals of the 'big'
Amstel Cup. Since he joined Ronald Koeman's Ajax-1 squad he had
40 first team appearances in which he scored 10 goals.
Central defender John Heitinga (b.
Alphen aan den Rijn, 15 November 1983) experienced considerably
more adversity in his tender career than Sneijder. Heitinga,
too, passed through all age categories of the Ajax youth
system. He was regarded as one of the club's major talents from
the outset. He made his first team début in the
'Classic' against Feyenoord on 26 August 2001, at age 17.
He played 36 U-21 internationals for Holland. A great career
seemed ahead of him, but there are only 28 official Ajax-1
performances behind Heitinga's name today.
The reason: the defender sustained a knee injury
in February 2002 and underwent surgery, but
subsequently became the victim of surgical
errors and was sidelined for almost six months. His
return to Ajax-1 action in the 29 September 2002 home fixture
against NAC turned into a personal tragedy as
Heitinga twisted his knee again, totally tearing off
the crucaite ligament of his knee again. Another six month
fight for recovery followed.
After succesful surgery by Dr Richard
Steadman in Vail, Colorado, the current season finally
brought Heitinga's real comeback to Ajax-1. He
scored his first ever Ajax goal in the Eredivisie away game at
ADO Den Haag and saw his Champions League début.
Heitinga is regarded as one of the young players that
might have a chance to claim a spot in Dick Advocaat's Holland
squad for Euro 2004.
Ajax has now extended and/or upgraded the contracts of coach
Ronald Koeman plus no less than six first team players since
October: Abubakari Yakubu, Tomás Galásek, Bogdan
Lobont, Jelle Van Damme, Wesley Sneijder and John Heitinga.
Contract talks with several other first team players, including
Maxwell and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, will continue until the
winter break. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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