Jaap Stam to join Ajax on two-year deal in July
30 January: Ajax are struggling in the current season,
but the squad for next season is starting to take shape.
Tonight the Amsterdam club reached an agreement with AC Milan
on the transfer of Jaap Stam to the ArenA. The Dutch veteran
defender (33) will officially become an Ajacied on 01 July 2006
and will sign a contract for two years.
The transfer comes as a surprise. It was common knowledge
that Stam had the intention to return to The Netherlands in the
summer, but he was almost exclusively linked with PSV,
one of the clubs he previously played for.
The Eindhoven outfit were reportedly interested in landing
Stam as the successor of Brazilian star Alex, who will
almost certainly leave Eindhoven at season's end. It seems
like Ajax have outsmarted their Eindhoven rivals.
Jaap Stam (born Kampen, 17 July 1972) started playing
football for DOS Kampen, the local amateur club in his town of
birth, near Zwolle. He was courted by FC Zwolle,
the area's First Division club, and made his
début as a pro for them in the summer of 1992.
After only one season Stam made the jump to the Eredivisie, not
with Zwolle, but with Cambuur Leeuwarden, where he
spent two seasons, one in the Eredivisie and (after
relegation in 1994) one in the First Division.
In 1995 Stam's career seriously took off. He joined
Eredivisie side Willem II, but spent only half a season there
before moving on to PSV in early 1996. In
Eindhoven he developed into a top drawer
defender so quickly that, when Manchester
United bought him in the summer of 1998, he was the most
expensive defender ever in European football: United paid 35
million Dutch guilders for him (some 16 million euros). At that
point he had 193 league appearances in Holland behind
his name, in which he netted 17 goals. With PSV he had won the
Dutch Cup of 1996 and the Eredivisie championship of 1997.
Stam spent just over three seasons at Old Trafford, where he
became an absolute superstar and won three English
championships as well as the Champions League in
1999. Nevertheless, his career for Man-U ended in
bitter fashion: Stam had to leave the club through the back
door after the publication of his authorized biography,
Head To Head, in which the club's respected boss, Sir
Alex Ferguson, was heavily criticized and embarrassed. After 80
league fixtures for United (1 goal) Stam moved to the Serie A.
Lazio Roma was his new club.
He spent three seasons at the Italian capital (70 Serie A
matches, 3 goals) before he was landed by AC Milan, for which
club he saw action in only 17 league games in his first season.
This year is better: he doubled his number of Serie A
matches in the first half of the season alone. He netted once
for the Rossoneri. For many years Stam also was a
starter for Oranje. His number of caps for The
Netherlands is 67 (3 goals). The defender decided to quit his
Holland career after Euro 2004, as he wanted to spend more time
with his family and focus completely on AC Milan.
Ajax have landed a physically strong, merciless defender
with 377 league games in The Netherlands, England and Italy
behind his name, plus 67 matches for Holland. The Amsterdam
club seem to have found the great leader they were looking for.
In the words of technical director Martin van Geel: "Jaap Stam
is a very experienced defender, who has played for many great
clubs. We feel he can be of enormous value for our young
team."
Five months and one day to go before Jaap Stam
will be an Ajacied! (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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