Clubs agree on transfer after all: Perez joins PSV
11 July: The short and painfully unfortunate Ajax career of
Kenneth Perez has come to an end after only one season. Today,
Ajax and Eredivisie rivals PSV agreed on the transfer of the
Danish forward, whose Ajax contract would have expired in the
summer of 2009. PSV will pay a transfer fee for the 33
year-old, but as usual Ajax did not reveal any financial
details.
Having played for top flight clubs FC
København (1995-1997) and MVV (1997-1999) in the
early years of his professional career, and having scored 51
goals in 164 Eredivisie matches for AZ between January 2000 and
June 2006, Kenneth Perez (born Copenhagen, Denmark, 29 August
1974) committed to Ajax on
31 January 2006. The transfer was a tumultuous affair and
did improve relations between Ajax and AZ, to put it
diplomatically.
A year and a half later (and less than a year
after his 09 August 2006 début in the
Champions League qualifier against his foprmer club FC
København) we may conclude that the tumult never
died down. As far as the football is concerned, Perez's
figures are no less than terrific: 17 goals in 45 official
appearances for Ajax. Looks like an excellent season. He
netted 12 times in 27 Eredivisie matches, but mind you:
he was a starter in only 10 of those games.
And there we have it: that was exactly the
problem.
Kenneth Perez never became a real starter for Ajax:
Ryan Babel was Henk ten Cate's left forward of choice,
whereas Wesley Sneijder was the undisputed 'number
10' -- much to Perez's frustration. And then
came the stories in the media. Did head-coach Henk ten
Cate simply not like the Danish veteran? Was Perez a
troublemaker in the dressing room? Every Ajax
follower could sense that things were not right, but we will
probably never know the real story, so let's stick to
the facts: Kenneth Perez wanted a starting slot that Henk
ten Cate could not promise him.
Oh, and then there was that extremely ugly and painful
affair in November, when TV cameras caught Perez
hurling racist abuse at linesman Nicky Siebert. Perez
officially apologized and accepted a ban, but the affair
did not make things easier at Ajax, for Perez or anybody
else.
No surprise that Perez wanted to leave. He wants
to play. Maybe start with a clean sheet. Feyenoord were
said to be interested. Then followed PSV, who felt
that the transfer fee demanded by Ajax was too high.
Apparently, they changed their minds. Ajax's technical
director Martin van Geel, for one, claims that Ajax did not
lower their price.
Kenneth Perez was an Ajacied for one season and it was a
memorable time for all
the right, plus undeniably a few wrong
reasons. Everybody will agree that a transfer was the best
solution, if not the only one. (MP)
Sources: Ajax.nl, UEFA.com, Ajax USA archive
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