Thomas Vermaelen to return to Ajax
10 June: Ajax boss Danny Blind has informed defender Thomas
Vermaelen, loaned out to Eredivisie side RKC Waalwijk since
January 2005, that he will get a new chance in Ajax's first
team next season. Blind also announced that he wants to buy one
more new player for the new season: a left fullback.
Vermaelen hopes he will get a chance as the left of
Ajax's two central defenders, his favourite position and
currently the spot of Julien Escudé. At
RKC Vermaelen had 13 Eredivisie appearances there, in
which he netted three times. "I wanted to go to RKC because I
wanted to play on Eredivisie level," Vermaelen told newspaper
Het Parool. "I wanted to find out if I could do it. My
spell at RKC confirmed this (...) I've had six very good
months at RKC. It's been a good time for my development and my
self-confidence. I am very pleased that I will now get a new
chance at Ajax."
Thomas Vermaelen (born Kapellen, Belgium, 14 November 1985)
played for Belgian club Germinal Beerschot Antwerp, the club in
which Ajax had a majority's stake at the time, before he joined
Ajax. He signed his first contract at the Amsterdam club on 01
July 2003 (until 30 June 2007), after having played for Young
Ajax. Vermaelen made his début for Ajax-1 on 15 February
2004 in the Eredivisie away game at FC Volendam. It still is
his only official first team appearance for the
Amsterdammers.
Ronald Koeman officially added the defender to the first
squad after several convincing performances in pre-season
friendlies in the summer of 2004. However, due to stiff
competition from defenders such as John Heitinga, Julien
Escudé and Zdenek Grygera, Vermaelen did not see
action in the first half of this season - and this
situation seemed unlikely to change in the second. His move to
RKC Waalwijk in
January 2005 was a logical step.
"I did not have to think long about the opportunity to
return to Ajax," the defender says. "Ajax is a big and
very beautiful club. I've always enjoyed it in Amsterdam. The
only reason for me to leave was the fact that Ronald Koeman,
our head-coach at the time, told me that my chances of seeing
first team action were quite small."
After the purchase of striker Markus Rosenberg, midfielder
Olaf Lindenbergh and the return of defender Vermaelen, the
Ajax-1 squad for next season is taking shape. Coach Danny Blind
told the press that he wants to sign one more player. "We want
a left fullback," the head-coach confirmed. The heavy injury of
Maxwell suddenly made this necessary. It came as a surprise.
Blind: "We haven't had much time to see candidates in action,
which means you'll have to gather information in alternative
ways and that takes a bit more time. But I hope we will be able
to find a left fullback before July 4th, when we'll go back in
training. That would make my squad for the new season
complete." (MP)
Source: Het Parool
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