BIOGRAPHY
SEP 6, 2018
Makes his senior
international debut
in a 2-1 friendly win
against Peru.JAN 23, 2019
Barcelona announce
his signing on a
five-year contract,
effective from July 1.MAY 5, 2019
Wins the KNVB Cup
as Ajax beat Willem
II 4-0 in the Final.MAY 8, 2019
In the Ajax side
that loses 3-2 to
Tottenham Hotspur
and goes out of the
Champions League
semi-finals on
away goals.MAY 15, 2019
Helps Ajax complete
the double, beating
De Graafschap 4-1
to secure the
league title.their coaches were swooning over De
Jong’s ball-playing skills and some were
even talking of world-class potential.
But no one was in any hurry either. On
his return to Amsterdam following the
doomed Willem loan spell he would have
to earn his spurs playing in the Dutch
second division with the club’s reserve
side, Jong Ajax.
He would have to be patient too,
forced to wait nine months for his senior
first-team debut – which ironically came
in a 5-0 win over his old club Willem in a
Dutch Cup tie in September 2016 – and
only becoming a regular starter at the
beginning of the 2017-18 season.
Not that this period of De Jong’s Ajax
apprenticeship was without its highlights:
voted the best second-tier rookie, netting
his first Eredivisie goal in May 2017 and
making a late sub appearance in the
Final of the 2017 Europa League Final
as Ajax lost 2-0 to Manchester United.
In those early days at Ajax, De Jong
could be a little difficult to handle, being
too set in his ways and somewhat
reluctant to compromise. Peter Bosz,
Ajax’s coach at the time, took exception
to his lack of urgency when the team lost
possession, while further brickbats came
his way for hanging on to the ball too
long and attempting too many high-risk
passes. The Ajax method is based on
slick one- or two-touch play. De Jong
had other, more cavalier, ideas. Like any
true Dutchman, he knew better.
“My quality is my intuition,” he once
declared to Voetbal International. “I can’t
just ignore that, can I? If I did, I’d be just
one of a thousand players of my age.
Often I would agree with my coach,
then do my own thing on the pitch.”
In his final two seasons, no other
Ajax player was as influential as De
Jong. Whether used as a wing-half,
a freewheeling playmaker or even as a
centre-back – where he was successfully
deployed for most of the 2017-18 season- he was the one who invariably made
the Amsterdammers tick, stylishly
bringing the ball out from the back,
artfully dribbling
through opposition
lines and finding the most unexpected of
passing angles. Boasting rare positional
intelligence and vision, he never seems to
be under pressure, so comfortable on the
ball and adept at finding space.
He was the cornerstone of an Ajax
side which came so close to completing
a clean sweep last term: winning both
the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup, and
swotting aside Real Madrid and Juventus
en route to reaching the semi-finals of
the Champions League.
“He’s developed tremendously,” gushedReserves...playing
for Jong AjaxDebut...before
Holland’s game
against Peru