The allure of the Premier League doesn’t skip the Dutch Champions Ajax, who secured their second consecutive league title this season, but as usual, will be forced to sell Jan Vertonghen, with the captain looking to join Tottenham in the next couple of weeks.
Ajax did sell Luis Suarez to Liverpool in January 2011, and since then have had a turn of fortunes, winning two consecutive league titles despite not possessing any big stars on their way to an achievement they couldn’t muster since the mid 1990’s, when their head coach, Frank de Boer, was still playing for the club.
Vertonghen, capped 37 times for Belgium, can play a number of positions but is usually deployed as a Centre Back. He can also play in the midfield, on the left side or as an anchorman. He has been scoring more and more during recent seasons, notching a career high 8 goals in 2011-2012, and has 31 goals in all competitions in his career so far.
Instead of Ajax building on their current talent base to make titles and Champions League appearances a frequent thing, the game forces the Dutch clubs to sell their best talent. Vertonghen, who has been an Ajax player since the age of 15, will be costing Spurs a sum of around £10 million. Tottenham aren’t the only side in the Premier League following and approaching Vertonghen, but he has apparently rejected the interest from Arsenal and others in favor of Spurs.
The big surprise about choosing Tottenham was the fact that they won’t be involved in the Champions League next season, but Vertonghen said that the UCL shouldn’t be the only motivation when choosing clubs.
It would be nice but I chose for the club not just one season. For me it is important the connection with the club. They give me a very good feeling about everything. They invited me over and they also really want to close a deal, which is what gave me a good feeling. They showed me everything about where they want to be in the next few years and that is what I like most.