Ajaxtalk

Perhaps the day his wages suffer, he'll finally realize that fitness is important for a professional (though his off pitch habits belie the word professional) footballer.

I have to say: the first half against Dinamo Zagreb was rather promising. He wasn't bad. Did a few good things. Add his first half performance to his goal against Willem II (very well taken free-kick) en perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

K.

Kowalczyk schreef:I have to say: the first half against Dinamo Zagreb was rather promising. He wasn't bad. Did a few good things. Add his first half performance to his goal against Willem II (very well taken free-kick) en perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

K.

His fitness level looked to be the best since he arrived at the club. Perhaps Jol has convinced him that he can get playing time by actually doing something out on the pitch.

I Will Succeed At Ajax - Miralem Sulejmani

The Serbian youngster is confident that he will make it big at Ajax...

Highly rated attacker Miralem Sulejmani has failed to make an impact at Ajax since joining the Amsterdam side from Heerenveen in the summer of 2008. However, the promising youngster is confident that he will succeed at the Amsterdam ArenA.

"I was voted Talent of the Year at Heerenveen and I'm desperate to become a success at Ajax, too. I believed that I have what it takes to go make it big here and I'm sure that it won't take long anymore," Sulejmani said to Ajax Life.

"I played good football at Heerenveen and I'm sure I can also make an impact at Ajax. It's not like I forgot how to play football all of a sudden. The head coach [Martin Jol] is doing his utmost to help me back to my best form again. He is really supportive and that's exactly what a young player like me needs.

"I will not walk away from my responsibilities. If I leave the Amsterdam ArenA one day, it will be as a winner. I refuse to live like a loser. Zlatan Ibrahimovic wasn't too impressive in his first season at Ajax either, but the fought back to become one of Europe's best. He is a great example to follow."

The 20-year-old has made 38 league appearances so far for Ajax, finding the net ten times.

Stefan Coerts, Goal.com

He got a hat trick in the Euro under 21 match with Norway yesterday! Let's hope this carries over into the upcoming Ajax match.

I'd like him to succeed too, he showed so much promise at Heerenveen and I still forget how young he actually is. He definitely seems to be playing more inspired than last year and his attitude sounds good in that he sounds committed to Ajax for awhile.

Rumour today that Olympiakos would like to take him on loan with an option to buy in the summer. Ajax are not going to agree. However how much longer do we give this under performer? Clearly we will keep him for the season and he will continue to come on as sub but surely this summer is make or break!

This summer we will lose most of our attackers - Suarez, Urby(who today confirmed contract extension talks broke down) Rommendahl and Kennedy are also unlikely to stay . That leaves Pantelic who also may or may not leave .

So Ajax will have to rebuild their attacking force this summer and if Sulejmani is not going to be considered as first choice for next season's front 3 we must look to unload him.

At the current time I am not impressed with him and he is a big waste of money. If we were to consider selling him then 4or 5m euros at best would be the price.If he is still here this time next year and has still not improved ie still sub then we could see him leaving for as little as 3m euros at best .

I'm really dissapointed with Sulejmani, i had high hopes for him in an Ajax shirt. I have to say though, it must be tough trying to gain full match fitness only coming on as a sub all the time. I do think though that Jol seems to be giving him a chance, and it was nice to see Pantelic giving him some support saying he would help his fellow country man find his form.

He's twenty one years old. He may not hit his prime for another two or three years. I'm not ready to give up on him just yet.

aveslacker schreef:He's twenty one years old. He may not hit his prime for another two or three years. I'm not ready to give up on him just yet.

That's the 'politically correct' version of my opinion, too.

But I have to say that I'm... worried (and that's still a politically correct statement, to be honest).

It's normal for huge talents to be inconsistent when they're young, but normally there are moments of brilliance. Fantastic games followed by really shit ones; it's part of the deal with youngsters. Problem with Sulejmani is that he's been consistently disappointing. He scored a few good goals in the league, okay, but a truly brilliant game, or a moment of true brilliance in a big game? There's been no such thing at all.

Didn't we just pay way too much money for a football player who's just 'okay' and not more than that?

My mates and I are friends with a couple of Heerenveen supporters. One of those boys sent me a text message when the Sulejmani deal was finalized. He wrote something like: "Lot of cash for a teenager. He's been a starter for less than a year, and he's been good for six months max."

In other words: did Ajax really know what they were doing? Or did they put 16 million euros on a single number on the roulette table?

We spent 16.25 million euros on this kid. That's not just your ordinary transfer fee; that's a huge amount of money for Ajax, the kind of money you only want to spend on a player from the top drawer. The transfer fee we paid means that he will have to develop into a fantastic player, not just a good one. He's supposed to be the architect of new, great Ajax team. A leader and potential captain, a Wesley Sneijder type star. If it's anything less than that, it was a bad buy. Sad but true.

My expectation is that he will improve and develop into a pretty good player... But a great one? I'm afraid not, which means we wasted a lot of money and he wasn't worth it. Let's face it: had he cost us 4 million euros or so, he would already have been dumped and added to the list of bad buys, right next to Kinkladze and Charisteas and Luque. The price-tag is the only reason why Ajax are patient. They can't sell him now; they would lose at least 10 million if they did. But is he really something different than - for example - Edgar Manucharyan?

Having said that: it wasn't Sulejmani's choice to be a 16 million euro player, so we can hardly use the price-tag against him. All of this makes him a pretty sad case... He's stuck here and he will get more chances from Martin Jol, so let's make the most out of it and support the kid.

K.

As he is not in the squad again I thought I would ask whether we keep him or not .

Just re read the wise words of Ko in his last post here . Since then Sulejmani has cored one good goal v Juve but has not anything in any of his brief appearances since our last debate in early Feb.

He clearly is not impressing Jol and so what do we do with him this summer?? I think we need to review our strike force as several will go , well apart from possibly Rommendahl they all will ie Suarez Pantelic
Urby . If we are going to give him one last chance we should keep him until next December and if there is no improvement then well we shall have to let him go . At that point we may have to accept 2or 3m only .And then we would be lucky.
But if we decide to get rid this summer I am sure an offer of 4 or 5m will be accepted if we are lucky to get such an offer. It is more likely that we would see him loaned to Greece or Turkey for ayear with us getting some 200,000 or so in rent for the season and hope they pay his salary of 1.5m .A good season there may see us get 4m in a years time .

I do not see us loaning him to another dutch team , pay most of the salary and hope he improves.

We are looking like we are going to lose another lot of money on another overpaid overrated player.
Luque was a terrible signing but since then Cvitanich has come and gone and we can right off Aissati
as another 4or 5m down the drain . If by some chance we get 4m for Sulejmani that is 12m loss plus 3m of wages for 2 years .

So the question is do we give him another chance next season or do we try and get rid this summer?

SPL schreef:So the question is do we give him another chance next season or do we try and get rid this summer?

I would give him the last chance, especialy if Suarez leaves this summer.

I agree with giving him one more chance; because of the money already invested, the probable losses of Suarez and Pantelic , and the hope (prayer?) that he might actually produce and thereby increase his resale value.

And he is only 20.

According to the Dutch press Sulejmani will be loaned out to West Ham after all, now that El Hamdaoui and Mido have been signed...

Waiting for confirmation.

K.

Kowalczyk schreef:According to the Dutch press Sulejmani will be loaned out to West Ham after all, now that El Hamdaoui and Mido have been signed...

Waiting for confirmation.

K.

I'd rather sell him. I hope they are doing more than just paying his wages. That is a lot of money to lose.

Despite a good hour of play, Sulejmani insists he will be happy with a loan to West Ham. The English club seems available to pay his full salary, by the way.
but I've seen some light in his performance yesterday, so I would not hurry up. and without any new transfer, I would not let him go at all.

he did indeed have a decent game last night, i dont think we should give up on him so easily really.. we bought him for a reason..

Rumour that he was saying goodbye at the airport today! With Suarez banned for 2 games and he could still leave at the end of August I believe Sulejmani should stay at least until then. Surely we are not going to let him go before this Sunday as he must play then.We have not got enough forwards at present to let him go on loan .

SPL schreef:Rumour that he was saying goodbye at the airport today! With Suarez banned for 2 games and he could still leave at the end of August I believe Sulejmani should stay at least until then. Surely we are not going to let him go before this Sunday as he must play then.We have not got enough forwards at present to let him go on loan .

I guess you didn't hear that we are going to rely on our defense this Sunday! I wonder if this is a loan or direct sale. He actually has looked OK in the matches so far this season but perhaps he needs the change in scenery.

id really like micky to stay to be honest, i like him as a player and think if he gets a run of games and his act together he can do well for us..

It's official: Sulejmani will be loaned out to West Ham, if the medical checks are okay. Duration: one year.

Do you know if West Ham will pay 100% of his salary?

It seems so.

terrible news as far as i see it... what a waste of what we paid.. chances are he will want to leave for sure when its time to come back.. and we wont get 16mil