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AFC Ajax - The Youth System Everyone Aspires To Have

14 Feb 2013 By Tim Simon

48c01ed6-4599-46a9-8737-d4ad25b76396|2|4.5

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“You need both quality and results. Results without quality is boring;
quality without results is meaningless.” – Johan Cruyff

Everyone involved in football has heard of the fine youth academy that AFC
Ajax possesses called ‘Die Toekomst’ or ‘The Future’. Founded on
18th March 1900, the club plays the so-called ‘Total Football’
approach in a 4-3-3 system invented by the great Dutch manager Rinus Michels. It
is this ideology that makes Ajax stand out across Europe; the adoption of a
single philosophy which everyone working at the club gets taught at an early age
is admirable. They let their footballers express themselves freely on the pitch
without any restrictions.

The basic goal of the club is that they bring through at least three players
into the first team every two years, anything less than this is seen as a
massive failure. This process begins right at the bottom of the pyramid with
player recruitment. Their preferred zone of recruitment is in the 50km area
surrounding Amsterdam but they do stretch further if the right player with the
correct style of play comes along. For instance, if a player such as Christian
Eriksen comes along they would not hesitate to sign him. They have 50 scouts
patrolling the Netherlands, looking for the latest talents and 5 more scouts
across Europe. The youngsters they find have to go through a test stage called
the ‘talentdagen’ where the coaches find out if they are good enough to be
signed to a youth contract. Players’ desired skills would be ball control,
positioning, technique and intelligence; there is an emphasis at Ajax on
technical ability over pure power.

The youth team is trained in the same way as the first team, so players who
make it are already accustomed to Ajax’s style of play, training, behaviour and
house rules. They strive to play the attractive, offensive-minded, creative,
fast and fair football that Ajax are recognised for. There are around 220 youth
players at the club at all times and in the Eredivisie at least 30% of the
players have been trained at Ajax at some point in their careers, a remarkable
statistic. The club has all age groups at the club with 5-year-old children up
to Under 19s and reserve teams. The ideal coach at the club would be an
ex-player who has had experience at the highest level of the game. These coaches
have substantial influence on talent development and are trusted with keeping
with the Ajax philosophy at all times, the only formation the players are
allowed to be taught is 4-3-3 as it is in the clubs tradition. The most talented
players are all but guaranteed a first team place by the age of 16 or 17 which
is extremely rare in the modern game and should be admired. It is also
immediately noticeable that everyone at the club refers to Ajax as ‘we’, a sign
that the club is a family focussed on developing youth at all times. It is
extremely rare that any player will spend his whole career at the club, all the
transfer fees that they receive for the players they sell go towards improving
their youth facilities and training.

One of the most prestigious names in UEFA competition, Ajax lifted the
European Cup three times on the bounce during the Dutch-defining Total Football
era of the early 1970s. And they know a restoration is possible, having reached
similar heights under Louis van Gaal in the mid-1990s when they won the
Champions League again in 1995. There aren’t many clubs in the world who have
any sort of comparison in terms of history and they are extremely proud of the
fine history they have. However, in the last few years they have become a
‘talent factory’ which produces great young talent but is forced to sell to top
clubs once the player reaches their potential due to economic pressures of the
modern game. There’s no doubt Ajax have suffered from the trend of domestic
leagues going global. The modest television revenues drew in by the Eredivisie
in recent years leaves them at a disadvantage on the European stage, forcing
them to sell most of their rising stars as soon as they reach a particular
market value. The most recent examples include Gregory van der Weil and Jan
Vertonghen who were sold to PSG and Tottenham Hotspur respectively in the summer
of 2012. They are constantly bringing new youth players into the side which
allows them to utilise their talents for longer and also get them more exposure
to secure larger fees for them when they do go. Ajax stated themselves in a
recent match day programme that the modern game hasn’t been kind to the club but
the Amsterdammers are making a comeback, as Manchester City found out to their
cost in Holland earlier in the 2012-13 season.

Now let’s take a closer look at some of the great players they have brought
through their famous system:

Johan Cruyff

Probably the most famous player to come through the ranks of Ajax, Cruyff was
a true master of ‘Total Football’ and is recognised as one of the greatest
players to ever play football. He won the Ballon d’Or three times and was named
European Player of the Century in 1999. He also won 9 Eredivisie titles with
Ajax and Feyenoord, 3 European Cups with Ajax and a La Liga title with FC
Barcelona. He is famous for his ‘Cruyff turn’, which is copied and mastered by
many footballers across the world. After a fine playing career he went on to
manage two of his former clubs Ajax and FC Barcelona, where he instilled a
similar philosophy to his hometown club. He remains and influential advisor to
both clubs and a fine ambassador to football.

Marco van Basten

If van Basten’s career hadn’t have been cut short in 1995 due to a horrific
injury he picked up two years earlier, who knows what he could’ve gone onto
achieve. He is recognised as one of the finest strikers of all time, scoring a
mighty 277 goals in the 1980s and early 1990s for Ajax and AC Milan. He went on
to win World Player of the Year in 1992 after an amazing year. He was a scorer
of two of the most memorable goals in football history too, his spectacular
volley in the Euro 88 final against the Soviet Union and an unbelievable bicycle
kick in 1992 against IFK Goteborg.

Frank Rijkaard

Rijkaard was an extremely versatile footballer who represented Holland 73
times, scoring 10 goals. He played for Ajax, Real Zaragoza and Milan where he
was deployed in several positions including centre half, right midfield and
central midfield. He won five Dutch titles with Ajax in two spells, two Serie A
titles and two European Cups with Milan and went onto have a successful
managerial career with Barcelona and Holland amongst other posts.

Dennis Bergkamp

What can you say about this man? An amazingly gifted striker who has been
described as having ‘the best technique’ of any Dutch international footballer.
Signed by Ajax as an 11 year old, he made his debut in 1986. He signed for Inter
in 1993 before joining Arsenal in 1995 where he really made his name. He won
three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and reached a Champions League final
with the Gunners. Bergkamp scored 37 goals for Holland during a ten year
international career. His style of play sums up Ajax’s academy perfectly, great
touch, intelligent and the finest technique you can ask for as a footballer.

Clarence Seedorf

One of the most respected footballers ever, he has performed wherever he has
played. The first player to win the European Cup with three different clubs
(Ajax in 1995, Real Madrid in 1998 and Milan in 2003 and 2007). In a playing
career which has spanned 20 years and is still going in Brazil with Botafogo,
Seedorf has also won 5 league titles with 3 different clubs and has played for
some of the biggest clubs on the planet. He must surely be recognised as an
all-time great.

Patrick Kluivert

Kluivert was once one of the most feared strikers in Europe, with remarkably
impressive quick feet and first touch for such a tall player. He utilised his
height and physical presence to dominate in the air. He is Holland’s all time
record goal scorer and yet another fine player to come out of this great
academy. Kluivert was part of Ajax’s golden generation of the early 1990s and he
scored the winner in the 1995 Champions League final after coming off the bench.
He also went on to play for A.C. Milan, FC Barcelona, Newcastle United, Valencia
CF, PSV Eindhoven, and Lille OSC.

Wesley Sneijder

One of the more recent Ajax graduates; he deserves his place on this list. He
is the current Dutch national team captain and has been an international since
2003. His most recognisable season was in 2009-10 when he guided Inter Milan to
Champions League glory and Holland to a World Cup Final where he was voted one
of the three best midfielders in the world. After leaving Ajax for $27million to
join Real Madrid in 2007 he won a La Liga title in his first season but was
eventually sold to Inter. He left Inter in January 2013 and joined Galatasaray
where he hopes to resurrect his career.

These are all world class players but that is not all the talent that
has come through their ranks, Ajax have been producing fine talent for years and
there are several more players who deserve a mention. The fact fine players such
as Johan Neeskens, Michael Reiziger, Edwin van der Sar, Edgar Davids, Ruud
Gullit, Danny Blind, Marc Overmars, Frank de Boer, Ronald de Boer, Nigel de
Jong, Rafael van der Vaart and Thomas Vermaelen didn’t make the list is
testimony to just how great ‘Die Toekomst’ really is. They have also developed
players in their early careers such as Ronald Koeman, Zlatan Ibrahimovic,
Christian Chivu, Jesper Gronkjaar, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Kanu who had their
careers resurrected after leaving the club. They don’t only produce young
talent; they bring players to the club whose careers are faltering and give them
a new belief in their abilities and allow them to express themselves.

Let’s hope the new generation can live up to what their predecessors did.
They always produce top class talent and that has no sign of stopping. Look out
for players such as Christian Eriksen, Siem de Jong, Tony Alderweireld, Daley
Blind, Ricardo van Rhijn, Davy Klaassen and Viktor Fischer in the future as they
are more than likely to be in and around some top European clubs if they
continue to develop at the rate they are. No doubt in generations to come there
will be more talent surfacing from Ajax’s fine academy. The philosophy will
always stay the same and the way the players are trained will to, the production
process shows no sign of stopping working. Without Ajax’s youth system we would
have been starved of some of the greatest players football has ever seen, let’s
just hope this great club can one day challenge for Europe’s top honours
again.

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Tim Simon

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As of 22 February 2013
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About the Author : Student
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Comments
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#
22 Feb 2013 12:40 PM

Chris Youldon said:

Great article, and glad they are being recognised for some people. Watched
them at the Otten Cup two year ago( u19s) and were a technical dream . Stefano
Denswil was the stand out player and he obviously is now doing well within the
first team squad. Well done!

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