Jaap Stam already said in his time at Jong Ajax that the Amsterdam club had to change its policy thoroughly, so that European success would be experienced again. The former Ajax player, who trained the promise team between 2014 and 2016, sees that that change has now come.
In those years, Ajax never really invested in players and mainly focused on letting the youth move on. ‘Back then we often said with Edwin (Van der Sar) and Marc (Overmars): If we want to reach the European top, you have to invest‘, says Stam in The Telegraph. ‘A few years later, Ajax made that change. From that moment on things went fast.’
Stam sees that that change has now been successful: ‘Now you see an ideal mix of own talent and acquisitions, a good age structure in the selection and some experienced players of international caliber such as Dusan Tadić and Daley Blind. That is why Ajax participates not only nationally, but also in Europe.’
Stam finds PSV less fun to watch than Ajax
Ajax is now also a team that the coach can really enjoy. At a club like PSV, the upcoming opponent in the Eredivisie, Stam has that less: ‘You see that trainer Roger Schmidt comes from the Red Bull school. He favors a high-intensity, high-movement style of play. The way he fills the positions, I find it less fun to watch.’
