On Wednesday evening (February 23, 2022) Ajax will play in the round of 16 of the Champions League, the opponent will then be Benfica again. Not many of the players who thrilled with Ajax three years ago are still playing in Amsterdam. Frenkie de Jong is at Barcelona and Matthijs de Ligt at Juve but Tadic, 33, is still at Ajax. So much for the subtle warning towards Lisbon.
Tadic and Ajax – a success story
When Ajax signed Tadic three and a half years ago, it came as a surprise – at least at first glance. Tadic had a career that had taken him from his native Serbia to the Netherlands and Southampton FC in the English Premier League. Newcomers to Ajax usually have a different profile.
So two people who hadn’t been associated with each other had found each other: The Dutch record champions Ajax, famous for their youth academy.”De Toekomst“, the future, and the skillful installation of our own young players. And Tadic, a footballer who was no longer quite young even then, and whose left foot Premier League goalkeepers had also feared.
But with Ajax and Tadic, it should be a success story.
Tadic for Ajax like “cement between the building blocks”
Since then, Tadic has played 179 competitive games for Ajax and scored 85 goals, he also set up 87 goals. In his first season, Tadic was top scorer with 28 goals. Not a bad rate for someone who can play anything on offense but mostly plays as a left winger. It certainly has something to do with his goals and assists that they don’t want to let Tadic go anymore. But that’s not the only way to determine his value for the club.
A few months ago, it was widely reported that AC Milan wanted to sign Tadic. The news spread quickly, so quickly that they felt compelled to clarify at Ajax. Tadic, said Marc Overmars, who was still sporting director at Ajax at the time, was definitely not going anywhere, he was far too important for that.
And because these are words that are often used in football and are contradicted by deeds, Overmars also sketched the image of a team that resembles a building. Tadic, said Overmars, was the “Cement between the bricks”.
Cement has a binding effect, which has to do with the mixture of minerals. In Amsterdam, they attribute a similar effect to Tadic, who is now also captain. And it’s quite possible that it will still matter in the coming months.
dream of Amsterdam
In addition to a few veterans such as Tadic, left-back Daley Blind or midfielder Davy Klaassen, coach Erik ten Hag’s squad includes many young and very talented footballers, often from their own academy. That’s how they like it at Ajax. They play for Ajax for a few years, they often outgrow the club, but then they bring in good money – that’s the club’s business model.
The contracts of right-back Noussair Mazraoui, 24, and goalkeeper André will run out in the summer Onana, 25, off, they’re going. Midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, 19, has one year left on his contract, but his departure seems possible before then. Bayern should be interested, it’s about a lot of money. The structure of the Ajax building remains fragile.
Against this background, they will be happy in Amsterdam that they have decided to sign Dusan Tadic. When there was speculation about a move to Milan a few months ago, Tadic said Ajax has always been his “dream club” been. “I enjoy it too much to leave this team.”