Category Archives: Holland

Jordy Clasie: Is the Feyenoord skipper a worthy successor to Schneiderlin?

  By O-Posts Team | July 14, 2024 - 18:45 | , , , , , , , ,
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As you may have read in my last few articles, the majority which have been to discuss whether the next Eredivisie starlet was ready for the Premier League and today is another.

But this is different, this one has legs as Southampton have already contacted Feyenoord for their star’s services, which is why I am seeking to discuss if this young kid from Holland is ready to replace the departed Morgan Schneiderlin.

First, let’s have a look at who Jordy Clasie is and his rise to stardom in Rotterdam.

 

Club career

Clasie grew up in Haarlem, a small town not so far away from Amsterdam.

He was given his first football boots by Willem Van Hanegem, a former Dutch international himself who was a friend of his father.

At 9 years of age, he was discovered by Feyenoord and accepted the offer to join their youth system.

It was not smooth sailing for the young Jordy at the start as constant travelling via trains was taking its toll, plus he was getting criticized on a regular basis by then head of youth development: Henk Van Stee, who would regularly call him too small and urge him to leave the club.

But then he left for Shakhtar Donetsk and his successor, Stanley Brard, did have confidence in Clasie, who knows what would have happened if he didn’t.

Clasie was loaned out to Excelsior in 2010 making his debut vs Feyenoord of all clubs a week later and had his first competitive goal ever scoring away at NEC in Nijmegen. After a successful loan period, he returned to Feyenoord and started most of the preseason before making his official debut against, coincidentally, Excelsior.

He quickly grew to be a fan favorite and scored his first goal for Feyenoord against Groningen. Clasie finished the season only missing one game and ended up winning the Young Player of the Season award, which was given to him by his old friend Willem Van Hanegem.

And guess who was the manager who gave him his breakthrough? Ronald Koeman, the current Southampton manager.

Things moved quickly for Clasie the next season, where he was given the number 6 and was made reserve captain behind Stefan De Vrij amidst rumors of interest from major clubs like AC Milan, Roma, Juventus, and Tottenham Hotspur. However, Clasie rejected these clubs to stay a few more seasons at his beloved Feyenoord.

He is currently Feyenoord’s captain, but the club’s failure to win any trophies has surely shortened Clasie’s patience with his beloved side and their ambitions.

 

International career

Clasie was first called up to the “Jong Oranje”, or the Dutch U-21s, in December 2010.

He also was called up for the 2013 U-21 Euro Championship in Israel, where he was used mainly as a substitute.

On the 1st of August 2012, he was picked by Louis Van Gaal for the Dutch side for the friendly vs Belgium. He wouldn’t wait long to grab his first cap, which he managed to do so on the 7th of September 2012 vs Turkey at the Amsterdam Arena.

He was then picked for the World Cup two years later and was praised for his performance in the third-place play-off vs Brazil, which Holland won comfortably 3-0.

 

Strengths and Weaknesses

Well, Jordy Clasie is your typical 21st-century defensive midfielder. He is small in stature, just like Javier Mascherano or Nigel De jong, but because of his fine tackling ability this does not work against him.

He is a very sound passer of the ball, but likes to keep the game simple and does not look for a 50 yard pass or a through ball. He is also not attack-minded as his low goalscoring rate proves and is very assured and calm when the ball is at his feet.

 

Is he the ideal target for Southampton?

In my opinion? Yes.

Here are the reasons why:

  1. Clasie is at his best when he has a talented 10 in front of him, who he can give the ball to after winning it. He has not had this at Feyenoord, but I think with a player like Dusan Tadic in front of him this would prove beneficial for both player.
  1. The confidence factor, which has been witnessed with Ronald Koeman- the man who gave Clasie his big break. Because of this, Clasie will know that at Southampton he has a manager who has the utmost confidence in him and that can help the player immensely.

Of course there are things that could go wrong as he could struggle with the pace of the Premier League as Feyenoord at a very slow tempo or he could up short physically, but I do not see this happening.

In conclusion, to all Southampton fans: this could be a signing to be excited about.

 

Written by Jamie De Geir

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Tobias Svendsen: Molde’s wonderkid is a Star in the Making

  By O-Posts Team | July 12, 2024 - 17:11 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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At 14, Tobias Svendsen had to get permission by the Norwegian FA to appear in a third tier game for Molde’s reserve team. Just a year later, he got his debut for the reigning champions in the cup.

The now 15-year-old midfielder is living in the shadow of his 17-year-old brother Sander Svendsen who has established himself in the first team, but Tobias is following not far behind.

 

QUICK FACTS:


Name: Tobias Svendsen
Date of birth: 31.08.2024 – Age: 15
Position: Midfielder
Club: Molde FK

 

Key strengths

His low centre of gravity, exquisite first touch, great understanding of the game and quick feet perfectly fits the bill for a modern central midfielder. He is very capable in small spaces, extremely difficult to get the ball off and is considered to be an aggressive midfielder with decent tackling abilities in defensive positions.

Molde manager Tor Ole Skullerud has on multiple occasions praised Tobias but he is keen to point out that they will not rush his development, especially as he is so young and has more physical growth to do.

“He has all the attributes to become a first team regular here at Molde. He is far ahead of his age in every way. It is still impossible to predict how far he will reach. Tobias has great potential but first he must get peace and quiet to develop,” Skullerud said to Norwegian press.

 

Stats

After Svendsen appeared in the 4-2 win against Rosenborg 2 at the third tier of Norwegian football over a year ago, he got a few appearances during the first team’s pre-season last winter. Then back in April 2015 he was handed his debut for the first team in the first round of the cup, a match Molde in the end won 2-0.

Considered an exceptional talent Svendsen was scouted at the age of 11 by Ajax. In fact, it was the younger of the Svendsen brothers that got the pair on the Dutch club’s radar when he was just 11, which two years later lead to his first of many trips to Amsterdam to train with the club.

For the time being Tobias is only thinking about becoming a better footballer, despite interest from Ajax. Claiming he is ‘too young’ to go professional abroad, Tobias told Norwegian press that it would be difficult to turn down an offer from Ajax ‘in a couple of years’.

“I have been abroad and seen how professional everything is, so yes, it is really tempting. I am too young to do that now, but of course it is a dream. If I receive an offer when I am 17 I would probably accept,” he said.

 

Written by Lars H. Thomesen

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FIFA 16: The Top 10 Potential New Legends in the latest FIFA edition

  By O-Posts Team | July 11, 2024 - 12:00 | , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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HEADS UP: 1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest

FIFA 16 has already created a huge buzz in the gaming world and is probably the best sports game of the year. Inclusion of Legends in both Xbox and Play Station has played a great deal in bringing this success.

Let’s find out who are the Top 10 Potential New Legends added to FIFA 16.

 

1. David Beckham – Right Midfielder

Overall Rating: 89

Best attribute: 92 rating in Passing

Beckham played for Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan among other top clubs. He won six Premier League titles, one Champions League title and 12 other club honours in his career which solidifies his status as a legend of the game.

 

2. Oliver Khan – Goalkeeper

Overall Rating: 90

Best attribute: 91 rating in Reflexes and Positioning

Khan has won eight Bundesliga titles, one Champions League title and was Europe’s best goal keeper for four consecutive years. He was also voted the World Cup’s best player in 2002 — the first and so far only keeper to ever claim that accolade.

 

3. Raul – Striker

Overall Rating: 90

Best attribute: 92 rating in Shooting

Real Madrid legend has records for most appearances and goals for the Los Blancos. He has won eight La Liga titles and four Champions League titles making him his career a greatly rewarding one.

 

4. Thierry Henry - Striker

Overall Rating: 91

Best attribute: 92 rating in Shooting and Pace

The French superstar had a successful career in France, England and Spain. He scored a total of 360 goals in his career and has won the World Cup and league titles from each country he’s played in. He is a definite legend to look forward to in FIFA 16.

 

5. George Best – Left Winger

Overall Rating: 92

Best attribute: 92 rating in Pace and Dribbling

The Manchester United legend is one of the best players to have ever played in England. He won the Player of the Year and was voted the greatest Northern Irish player ever. Having scored more than 200 goals for Manchester United, he is going to be popular among Man United’s FIFA 16 fans.

 

6. Zinedine Zidane – Central Attacking Midfielder

Overall Rating: 93

Best attribute: 99 rating in Heading

Zidane is the most influential playmaker the world has ever seen. He won three Player of the Year awards and one Ballon d’Or among other honors as a player. He is going to create a buzz among FIFA 16’s Real Madrid fans as well as any average fan of the beautiful game.

 

7. Eusebio – Striker

Overall Rating: 93

Best attribute: 94 rating in Dribbling

A record of eleven Primeira Liga and a memorable World Cup showing in 1966 makes Eusebio Portugal’s second best player after Ronaldo. It was a shame he was not included in the previous versions of FIFA.

 

8. Ronaldo – Striker

Overall Rating: 93

Best attribute: 94 rating in Shooting

The Brazilian Legend has won many individual awards for his contribution to world football. With an overall of 93, he will be one of the most traded players in FUT 16.

 

9. Johan Cruyff

Overall Rating: 93

Best attribute: 94 rating in Dribbling

The Ajax and Barcelona legend has won three consecutive European Player of the Year awards, which definitely seals his mark as one of the greatest ever. Dutch gamers will be looking forward to seeing him in FIFA 16.

 

10. Diego Maradona

Overall Rating: 95

Best attribute: 97 rating in Dribbling

A 95 overall rating is the best rating (Pele also has 95) there is for a player in FIFA 16 Legend. The Argentine has had a hugely successful professional career and now he will be joining rival Pele in FIFA 16 as a Legend.

 

Written by Charchit Dahal

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Pione Sisto: Danish wonderkid linked with the likes of Arsenal and Barca close to Ajax move

  By O-Posts Team | July 10, 2024 - 16:30 | , , , , , , , , ,
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Pione Sisto’s performances during the Under-21 Euros in June have opened for a move to Ajax, according to Danish press. The 20-year-old’s talent is undeniable, and a move to a bigger club such as Ajax this summer seems likely.

In fact, Midtjylland FC, his club in Denmark, expects him to be their biggest ever sale. Considering that Midtjylland over the years have developed players such as Simon Kjær and Winston Reid and sold them to bigger European clubs, there is no doubt Sisto’s talent is incredible.

 

QUICK FACTS:

Name: Pione Sisto
Date of birth: 04.02.2024 – Age: 20
Position: Attacking Midfielder
Club: Midtjylland FC

 

Key strengths

Sisto is considered an incredible talent, much due to his exquisite pace and unpredictable dribbling. In the Danish Superliga he takes on opposing defenders with ease whether it is one, two or three defenders coming at him.

Key to any young player’s development is not being afraid of failure, and Sisto has that ability in abundance. He loves to try new skills and tricks, and more often than not he is successful.

He also has a fierce shot on him and can score from distance as well as good vision and passing abilities to set up his teammates for goal scoring opportunities.

 

Stats

At the age of 17, Sisto got his first team debut for Midtjylland. During his first season, 2012/13, he appeared in a fair amount of games before becoming a first team regular the following season. In 2014/15 he helped Midtjylland to their first ever league title in Denmark.

His end product is also good, notching up 17 goals in 65 matches from his midfield position for his club. His performances did not go unnoticed and he was called up for Denmark’s Under-21s in December 2014.

He made three appearances in the Under-21 Euros in June, scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 win over Czech Republic.

 

Interested clubs

As mentioned, Ajax are closely monitoring the 20-year-old and seem to be the club most likely to sign him this summer. Ajax have previously nurtured the talent of another Danish attacking midfielder, Christian Eriksen, who Sisto have been likened to by Denmark national coach Morten Olsen.

The transfer fee for the rapid midfielder is expected to be around €5 million, making him Midtjylland’s most expensive sale ever.

Sisto has also been linked with a move to major sides in the continent such as Arsenal, Manchester City, Barcelona and Juventus.

 

Written by Lars H. Thomesen

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Jasper Cillessen: Is he an ideal successor to the possibly departing De Gea?

  By O-Posts Team | July 7, 2024 - 19:10 | , , , , , , ,
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Well, for the people who have followed my articles on O-Posts (if so, thank you), you will know I have had an article on Anwar El Ghazi and whether he was ready for the step up and another concerning the Sergio Ramos to Man United rumors. This article is a mix of those two.

Because today I will be looking to see if Jasper Cillessen, Ajax’s number one keeper, is a suitable replacement for the rumoured to be departing David De Gea.

But first let’s have a look at his career thus far.

Career thus far

Cillessen was born and raised in Nijmegen and was later scouted and signed by NEC Nijmegen’s own football club at the age of 12.

He made his debut in 2010 and impressively won the man of the match award in that match vs Heerenveen. He stayed between the sticks from that match onwards and also ended up winning Gelderse Player of the Year (Gelderland is a big part of Holland).

At the start of the 2011/12 season, Cillessen left for Ajax for an estimated fee of 3 million Euros — something which now can be seen as a very good piece of business by the Amsterdammers.

For the first few seasons, he was a backup keeper behind Kenneth Vermeer and it was not until the 2013/14 season, where Vermeer went through a very bad spell, that Cillessen became the club’s first-choice keeper.

That summer he was also first-choice keeper of Louis Van Gaal’s Holland side that reached the semi-finals of the World Cup tournament in Brazil and where he was remembered for that iconic moment when Van Gaal replaced him right before the penalty shootout against Costa Rica for Tim Krul.

Strengths

Before I proceed, a big thank you to Rowdy Sibrandi and Rowan Nahar — two people who have helped me with this and the Anwar El Ghazi article.

Just as with my Anwar El Ghazi piece I spoke with a few of my friends, who are Ajax season ticket holders, to see what they thought of Cillessen and his strengths and weak points.

And on this occasion, they were more positive remarks about Cillessen than the views in regards to El Ghazi.

From what I have heard and seen, Cillessen’s main strength is that he is very calm on the ball and a reliable outlet to pass back to as a last-man defender. He also has very strong reflexes and is excellent in dealing with crosses.

 

Weaknesses

The main weakness, which has been well-documented, is that Jasper Cillessen has NEVER saved a penalty. Hence, the reason Louis Van Gaal substituted him in ‘’that’’ quarter final vs Costa Rica.

This weakness may have also been noticeable in the semi-final shootout vs Argentina, where 2 penalty’s were saveable in my opinion.

He also is quite inconsistent with his kicking, but that’s only a concern when he takes goal kicks not when the ball is in play as previously mentioned.

Ready for United?

Yes, I do foresee a David De Gea-esque start if he were to be thrown into the line up straight away but with Victor Valdes there I do not see this happening.

But the question for me is: Is this a smart step for Jasper Cillessen himself?

With Victor Valdes and Man Utd, it would be very hard to break through into the first team and a long spell on the bench could be disastrous for Cillessen’s development.

Is Cillessen ready for the Premier League and a step up from the Eredivisie? Yes. Are Man United ready for Cillessen? No.

 

Written by Jamie De Geir

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FIFA 16: Three Major Changes in the latest FIFA Installment

  By O-Posts Team | July 7, 2024 - 17:18 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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We expect big changes from the new FIFA 16 as EA has promised a better game after the failure of FIFA 15.

We do not know all the changes that EA has done to improve the game, but we know some of the major changes that we will see in the upcoming new sensation (according to EA at the E3 conference).

 

Women’s Football

Women’s Football is the one big change we are going to see in FIFA 16. EA has announced that they have added twelve women’s national teams in the game and has focused on the female gameplay to make it more accurate as possible.

This is a milestone for FIFA as well as Women’s Football. There are only a very few people who completely follow Women’s Football, but after this everyone buying the game will have a chance to explore it.

Also, it has been reported that EA are planning on making a separate FIFA game for females only from next year. It will only be a great success for the future if the initial Women’s Football in FIFA 16 is as good as the EA claims.

 

New Tactical Defense with Improved Goalkeeping

When EA initially released the first gameplay trailer we were worried that again they were only focusing on adding new features, not fixing previous errors. But then they released the second trailer suggesting they have made some serious changes in the interference engine of the game. These improvements includes a new tactical defending and a more realistic goalkeeping.

The Tactical Defending includes more animatic moves like diving clearance and triangle traps giving the video game simulation a more real life like feel. There are not much changes in goalkeeping, however they have fixed previous bugs like air ball glitch.

 

More Animations and Graphics

We have already talked about more animatic moves in previous section but that is not all there is. The developers have added new stadiums, celebrations, skill moves, interactive crowds, and many other new graphics and animations to make the game compatible with the new interactive engine.

Other graphics includes new menus and modes, which have not been revealed yet.

 

Written by Charchit Dahal

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Sander Svendsen: The man tipped to be the next great Norwegian footballer

  By O-Posts Team | July 5, 2024 - 17:02 | , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Talented footballers seem to be growing thick and fast in Norway these days. 17-year-old Sander Svendsen, who The Guardian last year tipped to become “the next great Norwegian footballer”, has already received international plaudits for his talent.

On their list of the world’s greatest talents born in 1997, Svendsen was the only Norwegian player to be included by The Guardian. As a forward for Molde he is currently playing his third season in the highest division in Norway – and is considered a talent to watch in the coming years.

 

QUICK FACTS:

Name: Sander Svendsen
Date of birth: 06.08.2024 – Age: 17
Position: Forward
Club: Molde FK

 

Key strengths

With his great pace and excellent ball control he has already become a favourite among the locals in Molde. Norwegian pundits describe him as a ‘fearless and hard-working goal machine with a massive hunger to succeed’, while Norway’s Under-21 manager Leif Gunnar Smerud compares him to Argentina striker Carlos Tevez.

Molde captain Daniel Berg Hestad, who got his debut for the club four years before Svendsen was even born, believes the 17-year-old has all the attributes to make it at the highest level.

“The talent is clearly there. Sander is a wise and serious player, who is willing to listen. He will make it very far if he continues like this,” Hestad said according to The Guardian.

 

Stats

At the age of 15, Svendsen was handed his debut by former Cardiff City and Molde FK manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær. He may only have got 10 minutes over two appearances in the 2013 season, but it was an introduction that kept the Molde fans on their toes over the winter break.

The following season he impressed in a Molde team that won Tippeligaen, scoring his first goal and becoming the youngest player in the history of Norwegian football to be crowned champion. With 12 appearances and 302 minutes he took another valuable step towards what is expected to be an impressive career.

After nurturing his talent in the previous two seasons, current Molde manager Tor Ole Skullerud gave Svendsen the opportunity to establish himself in the team – a chance the youngster grabbed with both hands.

He has started 10 of 14 matches so far this season, getting five goals and two assists to his name.

 

Interested clubs

Despite acknowledging his talents, not many clubs have shown a direct interest in Svendsen. The only club to step forward and express an interest in signing him is Ajax. Sander, along with his younger brother Tobias, has been in Amsterdam to train with Ajax on multiple occasions.

Multiple clubs across Europe are monitoring the brothers closely and a move abroad might be on the cards sooner rather than later.

 

Written by Lars H. Thomesen

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Rivaldo Coetzee: South Africa’s youngest ever international on Ajax’s radar

  By O-Posts Team | July 5, 2024 - 15:06 | , , , ,
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Rivaldo Coetzee may only be 18-years-old, but he is almost already a seasoned professional at both club and international level. The South African teenager, who plays for Ajax Cape Town, made his international debut at just seventeen in 2014, and has been a constant fixture in the national set-up ever since. And of course, with a name like Rivaldo, being a football star seemed to have been written in the stars.

 

QUICK FACTS:

Name: Rivaldo Coetzee

Age: 18

Position: Central defender

Club: Ajax Cape Town

When Rivaldo Coetzee made his debut for South Africa against Congo in October 2014, he became the youngest ever player capped for the country. It was a meteoric rise for the young central defender, who had only just played a few months of senior club football.

 

Key strengths

Like most players who come through the Ajax system, Rivaldo is a well all-rounded player, who does most of the basics right. As a young defender though it is his overall reading of the game that is impressive. His positioning is excellent, and is hardly ever caught out of position. He is also very aware of what is happening around him, and keeps an eye on both the opposition and his team, very often covering for an out-of-position team-mate.

While he may not be the tallest centre back, he is still growing, and is solid in the air. His man marking is strong, and he times his tackles very well.

 

Stats

Since making his debut in the second half of the 2013/14 season, Rivaldo has made 37 club appearances for Ajax Cape Town (league and cup), and has only ever picked up three yellow cards, a decent stat for a defender. This is all the more impressive because for a large part, he has partnered with another young defender, Abbubaker Mobara.

He also has ten caps already for South Africa’s senior team in just eight months.

Coetzee was also a regular member of South Africa U17 and U20 teams until he made his senior debut. He was part of the teams that won both the All Africa Games in 2012, and Cosafa U20 Championship in 2013. He is yet to score a goal at a senior level.

 

Interested clubs

Due to Ajax Cape Town’s affiliation with Ajax Amsterdam, it has long been predicted that Rivaldo would join up with the Dutch club sooner rather than later. He has been on their radar since he was sixteen. He has also been a ‘guest player’ for Amsterdam’s U19 team at a few tournaments.

But ever since his debut for the national team, and being focussed on in the Football Manager documentary ‘An Alternative Reality’ in 2014, Rivaldo has also been linked to moves to Portugal, Belgium and England. However due to international regulations regarding work permits (and age), much of the talk has been about future moves.

“About my future, I’m still a young boy and I must stay humble and learn as much as I can. But I would love to have the chance to play in Europe one day.” - Coetzee said in November 2014.

 

Written by Rob Delport

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Riyaad Norodien: Ajax Cape Town’s starlet rising to prominence despite belated debut

  By O-Posts Team | June 28, 2024 - 19:18 | , , , , ,
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20-year-old Riyaad Norodien had to wait a lot longer to make his senior debut than was originally anticipated due to a long contract dispute, but when he finally featured for Ajax Cape Town in South Africa in April 2015, the youngster who came through the club’s development system made an immediate impression.

 

QUICK FACTS:

Name: Riyaad Norodien

Age: 20

Position: Attacking midfielder

Club: Ajax Cape Town

It’s not often a player makes as fast an impact in the South African Premier Soccer League as Riyaad Norodien has been able to. He picked up the Man-of-the-Match in his debut game, and Norodien showed it was just the beginning as this was just the first of many such awards in the handful of games he played.

It came as no surprise when in June he was called up to the national u23 team as they prepare to qualify for the Olympic Games.

 

Key strengths

Norodien may only be 1.68 metres tall, but his size is actually one of his strengths. He has a great low centre of gravity, and is extremely difficult to knock off the ball. Willing to run at defenders and take them on, he uses a great burst of pace and dribbling skills to get himself into good positions, and has an above average passing and crossing ability.

Equally adept on either side of the pitch, or in the middle for that matter, he also packs a decent shot, and is not afraid to try and score from any position.

 

Stats

After a legal battle between his agent and the club, Norodien only debuted in April 2015, two months before the end of the 2014/15 domestic season, eighteen months after he was touted to make his debut.

Norodien has only made nine senior appearances for Ajax Cape Town (six in the league and three cup games). He has however scored twice already in the league, and picked up a few assists in both league and cup games. In fact he was a huge reason why Ajax Cape Town reached the final of the Nedbank Cup (South Africa’s FA Cup).

 

Interested clubs

It is no secret that Norodien was a target for a few domestic clubs, and during his contract dispute, he even trained with other South African PSL clubs. Having made a big impression for the Ajax U19 side, Norodien also caught the eye of mother club Ajax Amsterdam and other European clubs, when the team toured Europe. He has in fact trained in Amsterdam a few times already, and has been linked with a move there since 2012, when he was Ajax Cape Town’s Academy Player of the Year.

Perhaps if not for the dispute between his club and agent, which also effected a few other youth players at the club, he may already have been playing in Europe. Norodien rejoined the Cape Town’s club youth team for their tour of Europe last month, and walked away with the Player of Tournament award at the Ergenzingen Tournament in Germany in May 2015 despite the team losing in the semi-finals on penalties.

“I feel like this isn’t my best, it’s just the hunger bursting out in me. I haven’t had a proper pre-season in a while and it shows in my performances because I get cramps and tired towards the end of the match. But I feel that when I’ve undergone a proper pre-season with the team I can offer so much more. I think it will be a good (next) season for me because I will just have to take off from where I finish this season, much fresher and fit,” Norodien told KickOff in May 2015.

 

Written by Rob Delport

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Anwar El Ghazi: Is the Ajax starlet ready for a move to the likes of Chelsea and Bayern?

  By O-Posts Team | June 27, 2024 - 19:33 | , , , , , , , ,
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There is a talent walking around Amsterdam. His name is Anwar El Ghazi, who is of Moroccan origin and he is being linked with some big European clubs. But the question is: is he ready?

But before I tell you my verdict on whether this talent is ready for the next step, let’s take a trip down the career path of Anwar El Ghazi.

 

Youth career

El Ghazi’s career did not start in Amsterdam. It started at the amateur club BVV Barendrecht in the South of Holland, so contrary to belief he is not a born Amsterdammer like I am sure many were within the Ajax youth system.

He even played for Feyenoord as his first professional club for two years before being let go by the club. A decision they now surely regret.

Unlike many others who get relinquished, El Ghazi did not give up on football but signed for another amateur club called Spartaan ’20. It did not take long until he was found by one of the smaller clubs in Rotterdam: Sparta Rotterdam. He played there until 2013 when he left for Ajax.

 

Breakthrough season

El Ghazi forced his way into the lineup as he was supposed to play another season with the A1, Ajax’s under-18 squad, but he finished as top scorer in the preseason for Ajax scoring 8 goals in 150 minutes; an impressive scoring rate.

He made his official debut in the Johan Cruyff Schaal, the Dutch version of the Charity Shield. From there, it did not take long for him to grab his first competitive goal for Ajax. That goal came in the second round of the Eredivise vs AZ, where he rasped a shot into the back of the net from outside the box.

He also scored his first goal in Europe this season, and what a place to score it. Albeit just a consolation goal, El Ghazi scored it in the Camp Nou where Ajax lost 3-1.

Although they would not admit it with them being friends and all, but this season was a battle between El Ghazi and Ricardo Kishna (another winger who has broken through this season) to showcase which talent is more primed for the big money move this summer or in the near future; El Ghazi finished the season winning Ajax’s Young Player of the Season.

 

His talents

El Ghazi is a tall, strong, and pacey winger who will always run at defenders. He is skillful as well, even though he showboats at times, which angers his opponents.

 

Pros

El Ghazi is an exciting player who will always try to make things happen.

As mentioned above, El Ghazi has pace, strength, and skill in abundance, which makes him very hard to stop when given too much space to run at you.

He is also a good finisher and good in the air, which something you do not see very often in a winger.

Another thing which makes El Ghazi so dangerous is his shot from outside the box, which he showed against AZ first of all and has also shown quite a few times since.

 

Cons

I have spoken to a few Ajax season ticket holders to see what they thought were the downsides to El Ghazi. One thing that we all agreed on is something that many wingers have when breaking through, and that is being selfish.

El Ghazi has his moments when a pass would have been a much better option than the dribble or the shot, but this is something which can be cured. Just ask a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.

Another thing is that El Ghazi is very inconsistent. If he’s in the mood, he can be unstoppable which goes for Ricardo Kishna on the opposite wing as well, but there are many games were both just fade out and it is something which again can and, I think, will be improved by both wingers.

 

Stats

Let’s have a look at El Ghazi’s stats, shall we?

The main stat, of course, is that overall this season El Ghazi notched up 10 goals and 8 assists in 40 appearances, which were all in the Eredivisie except for that one goal vs Barca.

He had an average of 2.1 shots per game, which shows that he is not afraid to pull the trigger.

His pass percentage finished on a 74.6, which is okay but for a team that relies on possession such as Ajax he will have to improve on that aspect.

He had 1 key pass per game, which again shows, with the passing accuracy and vision needed at Ajax, that this should actually be more.

A positive was that he had a 0.4 offside rating per match which is a good statistic to have as a winger, although we do know that El Ghazi does not play on the last man and that Ajax build up play is very patient. However, this is still a positive stat for El Ghazi.

 

Is he ready for the step up?

Rumours are that Chelsea scout Piet De Visser came to watch El Ghazi at the Toulon festival in France, but left disappointed. I shared this notion with him as I too was left disappointed with El Ghazi’s performance in the tournament.

But all the Ajax season ticket holders and I agree that El Ghazi is not ready yet.

He has not shown the promise Luis Suarez or Christian Eriksen displayed before leaving, and I think a transfer now would be VERY harmful to his development and could easily see El Ghazi become another Royston Drenthe, or Ibrahim Affelay.

So final verdict: If El Ghazi is smart, he will stick with Ajax for a few more seasons as the Ajax staff and Frank De Boer are the best people to turn this talented winger into a world class player in a few years.

 

Written by Jamie De Geir

Follow Jamie on Twitter @evertonianjamie

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