Kian Fitz-Jim hopes to do well in the Europa League with Ajax. In an extensive interview on VI PRO, the 21-year-old midfielder calls this one of his new goals.
Fitz-Jim made his definitive breakthrough in Ajax 1 this season. He has already played sixteen official matches under Francesco Farioli and is becoming increasingly important in Amsterdam. Moreover, he made his debut for the Dutch Juniors last week.
‘I had two goals at the start of the season: to become a starting player at Ajax and to join the Dutch Juniors. So now I’m starting to set other goals, of course,” says Fitz-Jim. ‘For example, with Ajax I want to get as far as possible in the Europa League. Maybe we can just do stunts.’
After big wins over Besiktas, Qarabag and Maccabi Tel Aviv (4-0, 3-0 and 5-0 respectively) and a 1-1 draw against Slavia Prague, Ajax is already virtually certain of qualifying for the knockout phase of the Europa League. League. ‘We are now second and are also beating clubs like Besiktas. Now comes Real Sociedad, which are nice tests. Then you can always look further and dream, because you always want more.’
Next Thursday, the Amsterdam team will take on Sociedad in San Sebastián, which defeated Barcelona last week (1-0), but is less successful in the Europa League. Davy Klaassen is not registered and Kenneth Taylor is suspended, so Fitz-Jim will normally start in the Basque Country.
Ajax will then meet Lazio (home), RFS (away) and Galatasaray (home). Teams ranked in the top eight at the end of the League Phase will be allowed to skip the intermediate round and go straight to the round of 16. Ajax’s goal difference, by far the best of the 36 teams, can become an important asset.
Read the full interview with Kian Fitz-Jim in this week’s Voetbal International or on VI PRO:
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