Great players don’t always arrive on the scene when they’re young, but it looks like Viktor Fischer, the 18 year old Danish rising star of Ajax, is one of those who likes to make an impression early on, scoring twice in the 3-0 win over Feyenoord in his first Klassieker.
At 18, Fischer isn’t a full-time starter for Ajax, being used sparingly by Frank de Boer, not wanting to throw too much on the talented player, who is playing at forward, often playing as the team’s striker, but with the ability to play behind or even on the wings when needed.
In order to “arrive”, you need a big match as the setting, and a great performance to announce you’re here. Fischer already scored this season in Ajax’s previous big win, their 3-1 victory against PSV on December 1, thrusting them back into the title race. Against Feyenoord, his first experience of the fiercest rivalry in Dutch football but on familiar terms (played at home at the Amsterdam Arena), he really let his name be known with a couple of early goals en route to a convincing 3-0 win, that puts Ajax only one point behind league leaders PSV and Twente.
Along with Isco and Paul Pogba, Fischer is one the top 3 U-20 talents in Europe, really letting their names be known this season. He played a few matches in the Champions League already for Ajax, and will probably have an easier time making a mark as they embark on their Europa League campaign when the competition returns.
Ajax have been forced to sell their best players in recent years, but have been able to hang on to Cristian Eriksen and Siem de Jong despite winning two consecutive league titles and winning back a permanent place in the Champions League, which might even be more important to the financial future of the club. Hanging on to those players and to Fischer, who arrived in 2011 and has already made his debut for the Danish national team, might mean Ajax will stop being a team that cant’ look beyond the third place in the group stage of the UCL, and aim for further rounds, like it used to be in what seems a very long time ago.