Players who rise to the occasion on the biggest of stages at a very young age are usually destined for greatness. There was nothing too special about Kolbeinn聽Sigthorsson in his Ajax career up to this point, but two goals in an impressive and successful comeback effort against their biggest rivals, Feyenoord, is a sign of greatness.
Ajax found themselves behind after only six minutes, but Feyenoord didn’t really do much after the opening goal from Graziano Pelle. The three striker formation for Ajax, with Bojan Krkic and Viktor Fischer on the wings was a bit too much for the Feyenoord defense to handle, eventually leading to a penalty kick converted by the Icelandic striker and later a fantastic header that bounced off the crossbar and barely made it over the goalline.
His two first goals in the league this season don’t mean Sithorsson is now the next big star Ajax are going to sell to bigger and richer clubs. In fact, Ajax have been doing a pretty good job recently in keeping their best players. Three straight league titles since selling Luis Suarez to Liverpool, but they’ve managed to hang on to Christian Eriksen, Siem de Jong and others.
Sigthorsson is as big of a star as someone possibly can be for the Icelandic national team, scoring nine goals in 15 matches for the national team. He did quite well on his debut season with AZ in 2010-2011, scoring 15 goals in 32 matches.
His scoring record for Ajax over the last couple of seasons has been quite impressive with 14 goals in 29 league matches, but injuries have held him back from progressing even further.
Ajax have been able to regain domination in the local scene, something that hasn’t happened since the Van Gaal days during the 1990’s. The next step is finding themselves in the round of 16 of the Champions League, with the group stage (and usually Real Madrid) proving time and time again to be a bit too much for what Frank de Boer has managed to build in the Amsterdam Arena.
For Sigthorsson, this is a big one. Finally healthy, there’s a good chance this is going to be the year the rest of Europe pays attention to his scoring ability, which has yet to be proven on a more, well, continental level. Unlike the younger Fischer, who has already had his break out moment last season in the league at least, Sigthorsson is turning 24 later this season, and it’s about time he showed the rest of Europe just how much of a quality scorer he is.