Football Season Guide

The last season turned out to be the worst Ajax campaign since the beginning of the new century. In fact, they failed to make the top 4 and, for the second year in a row, they won no silverware. But things could have even gone much worse. During coach Maurice Steijn’s tenure and the subsequent Hedwiges Maduro’s short-lived interim, Ajax just went from one humiliation to another, losing badly to all kind of opponents and even falling at the bottom of the table. Come November, though, John Van’t Schip was handed the reins of the team, while the club was undergoing some serious management issues, which are not over yet, and things started improving. While they kept giving away plenty of goals, they eventually held the 12th-best Eredivisie defence with 61 goals conceded, they also began scoring aplenty, thus becoming the 3rd-best attack with 74 goals. Having finished in the 5th place, they managed to offer themselves unexpected Europa League football for the new season. Van’t Schip was then offered a position in the management and Ajax hired Francesco Farioli, who had just done wonders at OGC Nice, as the new coach. The Italian was asked to enhance the young players belonging to the club’s youth system rather than investing in any new stars. Not surprisingly, no new players arrived apart from valid right winger Traore, who signed on a free after having a rather unlucky season at Villarreal. He should provide some experience from the bench in an otherwise very young squad. If nobody arrived, it is also true that no squad players were sold yet, although starters like left-back Sosa and striker Brobbey, capable of 22 goals and 12 assists all competitions considered, are currently the object of foreign clubs’ interest. The likes of Mikautadze, Conceição and Sánchez, all returning from loans, were let go, thus bringing in some considerable sums of cash.