AJAX AMSTERDAM
AJAX AMSTERDAM
TOP VALUE PLAYERS FROM THE ACADEMY 1. Ryan Gravenberch
Age 19
Position M
Minutes 78%
Value €35M
2. Jurrien Timber
Age 20
Position D
Minutes 92%
Value €30M
3. Noussair Mazraoui
The Ajax Academy needs little introduction, as it is one of the most instantly recognised and admired talent development centres in world football. Behind the many great players and famous teams that the club has produced is a set of ideas, principles and methods that have been part of the club’s rich history, but which also continue to evolve and be reinvented. 'De Toekomst' [The Future], as the training centre is known in Dutch, is a combination of function and form. The club invests in its infrastructure, systems, processes and human capital, with the full expectation of seeing a sporting and commercial return on this investment. Within its walls, future players are trained alongside a discussion on the future of football itself. And the place of Ajax within that future is inextricably linked to talent development of the highest calibre, even though the club is no longer able to construct long-term squads around its most gifted graduates. It is probably not possible to fully 'describe', 'regulate' or 'assess' the Ajax phenomenon, because the research and development that goes on within this academy, like very few other ones in Europe, is at the cutting edge of youth development thinking. However, the main aim of the 12 Quality Areas framework is precisely to recognise good practice in both the tangible and intangible dimensions.
Age 24
Position D
Minutes 76%
Value €20M
VITAL STATISTICS *
RECORD OUTGOING TRANSFERS 1. Frenkie de Jong
According to CIES Football Observatory, the percentage of minutes by club-trained players (i.e. those aged 15–21 at the club) is: 36.5 % (12 players) AVERAGE AGE 23.73 €10,850,000 WITH AN AVERAGE VALUE OF 26 PLAYERS IN THE FIRST TEAM of which trained in the club (academy pupils) 13
to FC Barcelona €86m
22 Age when sold (2019)
2. Matthijs de Ligt
to Juventus €85.5m
19 Age when sold (2020)
3. Davinson Sánchez
to Tottenham €42m
21 Age when sold (2017)
RECORD INCOMING TRANSFERS 1. Sébastian Haller 26 Age when bought (2021) €22.5m 2. David Neres 19 Age when bought (2017) €22m 3. Miralem Sulejmani 19 Age when bought (2008) €16.25m From West Ham Utd From São Paulo From Heerenveen
N
43.6 %
U
76
77
YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
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