The Past
Ajax is a club almost unlike any other. While Barcelona have been receiving plaudits for the amount of homegrown players that have cracked their first team in the past decade, it is Ajax which set the tone for building from within as they’ve been reliant on their academy products since their early days of existence. To add to their youth promotion policy, they’ve developed a strict adherence to a brand of football known as totaalvoetbal, or total football.
The basic principles of total football are that there is only one fixed position and that is the goalkeeper, everyone else is supposed to be tactically and physically flexible enough to switch roles almost instantly. Players are to be technically gifted enough while possessing a highly-developed sense of synergy with each other in order to quickly and fluidly overwhelm the opposition. It places a high emphasis on spatial awareness and the ability to overcome any opposing system being faced.
When in attack, the aim of the team was to widen the pitch and aggressively, but intelligently, using geometric spheres of influence to mold the game to their liking. When the ball is won on defense the team immediately switches into attack through possession and mixing the tempo to catch the opposition off-guard. This system requires an incredible amount of technical skill and intelligence as eyes have to constantly be looking for openings and swapping teammates. The preferred formation is an interchanging 4-3-3 with wingers but there have been occasions where an aggressive 4-2-4 has been the go-to choice to overwhelm the opposition.
On defense, a high defensive line would be used to strangle the opposition in order to win the ball back quickly in order to launch an attack. As former leftback Ruud Krol once said, “When we defended we looked to keep the opponent on the halfway line. Our standpoint was that we were not protecting our own goal, we were attacking the half way line.” Often, a centerback serving as a stopper will push up to play as a defensive midfielder and thus overwhelming the opposition with numbers. This can be risky as it leaves the defense with three flat defenders but the beauty of total football is that the rest of the squad is so quick, versatile and intelligent that they have no problem filling in gaps left by pressing defenders.
Putting it simply, the Ajax side of 1971-1972 developed such a system and played such intelligent football that it would lead one to believe that they’d be able to run circles around some of Europe’s biggest clubs in the present. Such was their synergy and utter flexibility that at times they seemed simply unstoppable no matter what tactic the opposition rolled out.
The face of this system was undoubtedly Johan Cruyff, a man considered by many to be the single most complete footballer that has ever lived. Tactically on another plane from his contemporaries, Cruyff possessed such technical skill mixed with pace and flexibility that made him virtually unstoppable on offense while an incredibly balanced player on defense. Not someone who enjoyed physical football whatsoever, Cruyff placed more of an emphasis on possession football which not only permeated at Ajax, but also at Barcelona where he managed and instilled a philosophy which would come to define the club in European competition.
This philosophy has become the prevalent style taught at an academy which boasts a lofty goal of bringing in three first-team players every two seasons. With over 50 scouts scouting the Netherlands, Ajax holds the leading edge in signing skilled Dutch youth to teach them their TIPS model (Technique, Insight, Personality, Speed). Within each of these pillars are eight further principles to follow: coordination training, kicking, passing and throw-ins, moves to beat an opponent, heading, finishing, position play, position game play and small sided games. Famous alumni of the academy which have been taught these principles include Cruyff, Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp, Marco Van Basten, Edgar Davids, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Clarence Seedorf, Ruud Krol and many more household names. In the past many of these players would stay at Ajax for extended periods of time but in today’s climate players rise through the ranks and play in the first team for a couple of years before moving on outside of the Eredivisie in an attempt to further their careers.
The Present
Currently, Ajax’s youth ranks have several prospects which not only project to be excellent additions to the first team in a couple of years, but are also starlets which major clubs across Europe are keeping their eye on. Of these, Richairo Zivkovic, Ricardo Kishna, Abdelhak Nouri, Jairo Riedewald and Kenny Tete are the most well-known names with expectations being particularly high for Zivkovic and Kishna.
Zivkovic, signed from FC Groningen just this summer, is a pacey striker with instinctive positioning abilities far beyond his years. Raw and in need of close molding from Ajax staff such as legendary striker Dennis Bergkamp, Zivkovic will likely start to see more and more first team action as the season progresses culminating in a likely starting berth next season. Kishna is in a similar situation. A winger blessed with strong pace and technique, his dribbling is a huge asset in being able to break away from defenders to set up his teammates, as exemplified in the most recent Klassieker victory over Feyenoord where he created three goal-scoring opportunities for his teammates. Nouri, Riedewald and Tete might be a little further away from being prospects who are ready to immediately contribute at a consistent level, but the potential is there for Ajax to field a potent starting 11 in the next year or two. However, they’re not the only ones with gems in their stockpile as rivals domestically are starting to make up ground in the academy game as competitors such as PSV and Feyenoord are rapidly becoming talent factories of their own to a level which can cause concern for Ajax.
The problem with the current state of the Ajax academy and the first team is that while they try and adhere to the principles set forth by past legends, the end product isn’t exactly beautiful enough for diehard fans. At Ajax, it’s not just enough to win but the need to win the right way is, in some cases, just as important as the margin of victory. Winning by a 4-0 margin tanks to headers and counterattacks is in some ways inferior to a 1-0 victory with the goal coming from intricate passing and the lead being held by players playing more than one role. The current Ajax squad, for all their talent and training, does some of these things but a certain faction of purists is still pining for days past of quickly overlapping players drifting across the pitch playing totaalvoetbal. That’s not to say that the first team couldn’t return to such an era, but in the present it appears to be slightly lacking that quality which won the club millions of fans across the world.
The Future
In terms of future possibilities, Ajax finds itself between a rock and a hard place. A proud club with a decorated history, Ajax has held firm to its dogma of raising talent from within to play a certain style of football, as opposed to fellow traditional powers buying top class talent and molding it into champions. While one certainly has to praise and admire Ajax for their beliefs and conviction, it’s these same beliefs which are often pointed to as a source of what’s holding the club back.
There’s no doubt that Ajax’s youth ranks are loaded with promising talent in all parts of the pitch, especially on offense. However, given the world that we live in it is difficult to see such talent staying together long enough to develop a strong enough rapport to form a cohesive unit for an extended period of time, much less a potent enough force to challenge powers such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. While they might hold the tactical edge and the financial means to recruit and develop some of Holland’s best young talent, the truth of the matter is that talent simply isn’t good enough anymore to challenge for the Champions League, especially at the young age at which many of said youngsters are thrust into first team action.
It’s not just a matter of age as well. The once famed formation taught by Ajax, the incredibly fluid and flexible 4-3-3, is the backbone of all Ajax training and is the one formation preferred by the organization. Of course, they’ll sometimes morph into different looks but there’s no questioning what their preferred shape is. Adhering to this formation, even with its flexibility, without mux experimentation of other systems limits what this club can do as top sides often mix and match formations to players in order to maximize their potential. In addition to the 4-3-3, Ajax players are trained to be much more technical as opposed to physical, but in a world which sees physically powerful sides such as Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Chelsea rising to the top, one has to ask what s Ajax’s place in such an environment. Barcelona succeeded in this manner in the past decade, but the gulf in class between those Barcelona teams and the current Ajax players is night and day, and that’s no offense to some of the fine talents wearing the red and white.
Even if Ajax were to abandon their principles, something they’ll seemingly never do, in order to sign bigger and more established names, they face the hurdle of having to persuade such players to come to a league which by all accounts is on the decline. The style of football played in the Eredivisie can be pretty loose and, for the most part, very fun for those who like goals, not to mention that it’s a great breeding ground for excellent young talent which habitually finds itself on the roster of some of Europe’s biggest clubs. However, years of middling results in the Champions League and Europa League, plus dwindling economic power of clubs relative to that of oil-rich growing powers, make the Eredivisie a tough sell when athletes in their prime could be plying their trade at the Santiago Bernabeu, Allianz Arena, Stamford Bridge or the Camp Nou, for example. With all these factors in mind, it’s tough to recall the last time Ajax signed a relatively high-profile name which made a memorable impact both domestically as well as in European competition. Even if they did sign a household name and even if they did unearth a prodigious talent such as Luis Suarez, it would still be a tall task to overcome Europe’s superpowers deep into the Champions League. When looking at recent results in Europe, such as the demolition at the hands of Red Bull Salzburg last season, this idea becomes even more reinforced.
While it would be folly to suggest that Ajax, and other Eredivisie clubs, forego any European aspirations, expectations might have to be adjusted to more closely align with the reality of the situation. Money appears to be the determining factor as to who the true European contenders are and as Ajax’s yearly profits don’t come even remotely close to say, Real Madrid, Ajax might have to put Champions League hopes aside in order to focus on more attainable competitions such as the Eredivise title and the Europa League. While that might sound borderline appalling to diehard fans, it’s simply the reality of the situation given Ajax’s rigid adherence to its policies.
Ajax is a proud club with a rich tradition of success and building from within, but given its dogma, the severe decline in the Eredivisie and the proliferation in super rich megaclubs, it’s simply difficult to see its sterling academy producing the talent necessary to compete for European glory. That being said, the Ajax model for youth recruitment, training and promotion is one which is second to none and should serve as an inspiration for all clubs to follow, from the smallest of amateur sides to the biggest of superpowers.
