Let's make it 14 wins in a row in honor of Cruyff, AFC Ajax [R]

very nice way to end the season

 

Congrats fellow ajacieden.

 

English media have been suggesting that Arsenal could get Vertonghen for as little as 6m€ which is just rediculous. I'd rather lose him on a Bosman at the end of next year than let him go for such a measly amount this year

 

English tabloids reporting a bidding war with Man U and Arsenal getting in the mix *thumbs up*

 

Champions..
For the first time in years we were a class above the rest of the teams (in the last part of the season).
With upcoming youth players maybe even strengthening our team (vRhijn vs vdWiel), Ajax is flourishing!

 

The German boy Metzelder has proven to be a bad buy..but this are just rumours.
English teams will not spend crazy amounts anymore for (not top) foreigners, unless their name is ManCity or LFC. High transfer fee's are kept within Britain (Carroll). For us it would be nice if Vertonghen would be sold to Tottenham, who are rich too, and then in a few years being sold to an AAA team (lead-up compensation).

 

Arsenal would love Vertonghen. Many of their fans have been drooling over him for months.

 

Unfortunately Arsenal only signs crappy players nowadays

 

WTF is this rumor about Newcastle wanting Boileson? That came out of nowhere.

 

Time to make a change then and sign a really good centreback. In my other life I have an Arsenal membership and I can say unequivocally if Vertonghen chooses Tottenham over Arsenal the supporters would be unhappy. Even casual Arsenal fans know him as a player who would fit in well with the club.

 

Their fans have been drooling over him for years, and now they have a feeling of entitlement towards him because they think they discovered him. It's one of the reasons I don't like arsenal/arsenal fans.

 

I also get a feeling that Arsenal fans are resistant to the possibility that he's better than what they've got and therefore are susceptible to the idea they don't need him and he'd just be better off going to Tottenham.

 

Arsenal fans hardly have a feeling of entitlement towards him, they just would rather not lose him to ********ing Tottenham. Inter, Barca, Man U, I could deal with that...but Tottenham?

What the hell are you talking about? Most Arsenal fans would be delighted if he signed for them. Who are these Arsenal fans who think he's not better than what they have now? Maybe some one-eyed Yanks, but real Arsenal fans are under no illusions.

As for him being better off at Tottenham, I am not so sure, and I am not so sure even if you remove my obvious bias. They have an even more tenuous grasp on their best player than we do. I feel fairly confident that if we got our business done early (i.e. Podolski, M'Vila, my man Jan), van Persie would stay. Even if Tottenham signed some guys and got fourth place - I hope to Christ they don't get third, for obvious reasons - I am not sure Modric would stay anyway. Opinions are like you know what and everybody has one, but Tottenham are certainly not a better bet than Arsenal to play CL football in years to come.

 

A lot of Arsenal fans I chat with here on BigSoccer get the impression that Vertonghen would a bench player for them therefore he'd be better off at Tottenham where he has a better chance of starting. I've been telling them for a while now that he's going to be better than Vermaelen.

I'm also a bit soft for Arsenal. One of my best friends in college is a huge Gunner fan so I've always found myself rooting for them and would love Jan to end up there.

 

I don't think these people share the opinion of your average London Gooner. Your average London Arsenal fan and overseas Arsenal fans, like many other clubs, think a little differently. I know lots of overseas fans who think Wenger should be sacked, for example, while the Londoners wouldn't dream of it. Not that they've had blind faith, just they know how much of the club's foundation is him...

That's doubly meaningful when you consider the TV situation and proximity to Holland. The Eredivisie doesn't get on TV at all in the States, am I right? It's only on ESPN3. It's not greatly covered here, but Ajax usually get on TV 4 weeks out of 6, so your average London Gooner with ESPN has seen Vertonghen play while your average US Gooner has probably never seen him play except maybe in one or two Euro games. Plus the fact he's the Eredivisie's top player has filtered through over here. Even if people don't know him well, they know him. I question whether your average US EPL fan knows anything about him. The Tuesday Club podcast with Alan Davies and Ian Stone is a good podcast to get a feel on what the average London Gooner thinks and while they aren't terribly knowledgeable about him they've talked positively about him a couple times as a player they'd like to see at Arsenal.

That's not disparaging - I'm a Yank myself and I think I am probably like your regular US EPL fan in terms of the Eredivisie, especially because I only really came back to Ajax in the last 18 months or so. I don't have that encyclopedic knowledge of Ajax, and there's the language barrier, and I don't know many (any) Ajax fans personally.

 

Speaking in generalities...I find that a lot of EPL fans see the Eredivisie as a HUGE step down competitively, often to the point that they are just being snobby about it. It's hard for a lot of them to wrap their head around the idea that there are top class players playing in the Netherlands who could step into a top team in England. It's happening more and more often recently so the tide of opinion is definitely turning.