Thomas van den Leeuwen - Making De Godenzonen The Kings Of Europe Again

[Dexter_Morgan]

I know the point of this thread is Ajax but my self discipline would have gone out of the window with some of those offers

[tomtuck01]

Wow, decent jobs offers there

Atleast tells me I'm doing a good job!

I know the point of this thread is Ajax but my self discipline would have gone out of the window with some of those offers

Well in time maybe I'll make a move, but not until I've won the European Cup! So, probably never then.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - Season Preview - 2017/18

Board Expectations

Eredivisie - Win the title

KNVB Beker - Win it

Champions League - Reach 1st Knockout Round

Johan Cruijff Schaal - Not important

Personal Expectations

Eredivisie - Pick up where we lef toff last term

KNVB Beker - Win it

Champions League - Quarter Finals

Johan Cruijff Schaal - it's against Den Bosch, so a bit irrelevant

Nice to the board have finally upped their expectations in the Champions League! As for me my expectations are much the same - but I really do want to win the domestic cup this term, and if I play the younger lads I expect better performances than in previous years.

Budgets

Transfer: £219,787,803

Wages: £1,117,943 p/w (Currently spending £407,239 )

Balance: £212,487,905 (+£112,726,718)

Largely down to plenty of player sales already this summer, the balance is immense and I have fantastic budget available to me. Great security the club has.

[john1]

Wow! 219M to spend

[tomtuck01]

Wow! 219M to spend

With my £5million max transfer spend, that's 43 players costing £5million each with £4million left over for a lesser player.

[john1]

With my £5million max transfer spend, that's 43 players costing £5million each with £4million left over for a lesser player.

Ain't you willing to break your 5M max transfer spend?

[tomtuck01]

Ain't you willing to break your 5M max transfer spend?

Nope.

[danielgear]

Nope.

Good lad!

[tomtuck01]

Good lad!

It has never even crossed my mind.

[deltablue]

Must be nice not to worry about money.

[DazRTaylor]

Going well.

I see Ajax are struggling financially again, we should have a whip round for them.

[tomtuck01]

Must be nice not to worry about money.

Well yes, but remember this is due to me selling players. There's certainly a downside.

Going well.

I see Ajax are struggling financially again, we should have a whip round for them.

Haha we can start at Bayern - stop them buying the best players and beating us season after season!

[tomtuck01]

My first international job offer - unsurprisingly I'm not taking it.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - Preseason - 2017/18

Transfers

(Players below the red line(s) were transferred after the start of the Eredivisie season).

Another busy summer with us bringing in seven players and also selling quite a few players - and big ones because of minimum fee release clauses been met. Thankfully we have young players in the squad who can step up to the first XI so we didn't have to search for players to replace them.

Captain Lasse Schöne found himself out of the side more often than not in the second half of last season after his form began to dip. At 31 and on £25,000 p/w it was really the right decision to move him on. Maybe we could've got more money for him, but I wasn't that fussed in all honesty - letting him go was right for all parties. Zakkaria Baakkali struggled to nail down a first team place, and even when he did get in the side he wasn't always impressive. He understandably wanted to go, and at the end of the day we got £4million for a player who joined from free two years ago. Job done. The transfers of Kenny Tete, Riechedly Bazoer, Ricardo Kishna, Viktor Fischer, and Lucas Andersen were all out of my hands due to their minimum fee release clauses been met. I did offer new contracts to them all, but we simply couldn't compete with the other sides due to my maximum wage rule. Can't really complain with the money recieved though. The only other sale of note was that of Thorgan Hazard, who left for Udinese for £5.5million. He just wasn't impressive enough last season, and I was delighted to make almost instant profit on him - free last year, £5.5million for him this year; terrific.

Here are the eight players who joined the club this summer;

Jaroslav Brychta - £600,000

He doesn't look much yet, but he's just 16 and has some good attributes already. Hopefully he can develop well over the next few years and turn into a sound player.

Miroslav Simecek - £5million

A big fee for an 18 year old, but he has some very nice little attributes already. If others can be improved then we could turn this lad into a super player. His physicals are very good already, and has some decent little mental attributes aswell.

Jaroslav Rehak - £2.3million

Again this lad has good physical stats already and some other decent attributes to work on. At just 16 he has plenty of time to develop yet.

Martin Mezlik - £2.3million

A really terrific player in my opinion. He has some cracking mentals for one so young, and his physicals are in a very good way aswell. Both those should develop as he matures, we just need to make sure we can improve his technicals.

Miroslav Grussmann - £2.3million

Looking forward to this young lads development. He has a nice little spread of attributes over all three areas, and is by far the most rounded of the five Czech's we have signed. A super prospect.

Matheus Pereira - £5million

Another maximum fee paid out, but he could be a super player given the right development. Give him a couple of years or so and I expect he'll be vital to our success.

Nicolás Gutiérrez - £3.2million

A terrific young player, the first of two Chileans brought in over the summer. A terrific deep midfielder in the making, but for the immediate campiagn he's been loaned out to Heerenveen so he can play week-in, week-out.

Rodrigo Donoso - £4.6million

Our second Chilean, who really could be developed into a great player who could player a number of positions and roles. Massively looking forward to what this lad could become long term. He'll remain with us this term so I can see about upping that "Jumping Reach".

Preseason Friendlies

A short trip this summer, this time to Japan - and it was fairly productive. All my big players got game time, and my forwards scored goals. Can't complain. Of course we know the main benefit will come later - merchandise sales, hence why we've been to China, South Korea, and Japan in the last three years. No injuries either - great!

Johan Cruijff Schaal

A very good performance to head into the first game of the season on. By halftime it was game over realistically, and early in the second period we fired home another. Den Bosch pulled one back late in the day, but 4-1 it finished.

We start the Eredivisie season away at newly promoted Volendam.

[john1]

Wow, some fantastic signings there. Rodrigo Donoso looks really promising.

What is it with you signing alot of Czech Republican players this season

[tomtuck01]

Wow, some fantastic signings there. Rodrigo Donoso looks really promising.

What is it with you signing alot of Czech Republican players this season

They were just good, young, ad available at decent enough prices. They'll blend in well with the Dutch kids from the youth system. Or, y'know, we've set up a back street people trafficking business.

[john1]

They were just good, young, ad available at decent enough prices. They'll blend in well with the Dutch kids from the youth system. Or, y'know, we've set up a back street people trafficking business.

Hahaha Cracking prices for them

Do you find it frustrating when you want to get this player for Ajax but wants more than 25K? How do you get around that?

[tomtuck01]

Hahaha Cracking prices for them

Do you find it frustrating when you want to get this player for Ajax but wants more than 25K? How do you get around that?

End up offering pretty crazy bonuses, and it usually works to be honest.

Had to give Leandro Damião a new deal in the summer or sell him; ended up keeping him on £25,000 p/w, but giving Apperance/Goal bonuses of £5,000, a Top Goalscorer In Division Bonus of £120,000, and sell-on fee percentage of 15%. He's our for 2-3 more years yet.

[john1]

End up offering pretty crazy bonuses, and it usually works to be honest.

Had to give Leandro Damião a new deal in the summer or sell him; ended up keeping him on £25,000 p/w, but giving Apperance/Goal bonuses of £5,000, a Top Goalscorer In Division Bonus of £120,000, and sell-on fee percentage of 15%. He's our for 2-3 more years yet.

But surely offering him and his agent more money than bonuses?

[tomtuck01]

But surely offering him and his agent more money than bonuses?

Well, not wages wise. His agent maybe gets a bit more to smooth things over.

[Rikulec]

Sparta Prague fans must be pissed.

[TwinsFan86]

The summer of 2017 shall henceforth and hitherto be referred to as the Summer of the Great Sparta Praha Raid. Let it be said and let it be so!

[jackyb1989]

Sparta last lost that many good young men at Thermopylae

[tomtuck01]

Sparta Prague fans must be pissed.

Haha not my concern I suppose!

The summer of 2017 shall henceforth and hitherto be referred to as the Summer of the Great Sparta Praha Raid. Let it be said and let it be so!

Sparta last lost that many good young men at Thermopylae

Definitely both made me laugh.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - August 2017

Eredivisie

A great start to the season, with four wins from four to see us already lead the table by three points.

The season started with a solid 2-0 win away at newly-promoted FC Volendam, but we were far from our best. Timothy Fosu-Mehsah nodded us infront after twenty-five minutes, and with twenty minutes left the second finally came to seal the win when Volendam's centre forward headed into his own net. Utrecht visited Amsterdam for our first home game of the season, and again we took all three points despite a less than convincing display. Niels van Zanten put us ahead after just four minutes, be failed to take adavantage of the early goal and just before the break it was 1-1. We grabbed the winner fifteen minutes from time, when Abdelhak Nouri followed in an effort from Anwar El Ghazi to tap home the winner. We then went away to Groningen, and although we won 3-0, it was a scoreline that flattered as we both had our chances. An early goal from Queensy Menig in the eleventh minute got us off to a great start, and although Groningen gave us a bit of battering as the half wore on, we were 2-0 at half time thanks to clinical Leandro Damião finish. With eleven minutes remaining Mattheus, returning from a loan spell at Utrecht last term, fired in low from the edge of the area to seal the win. The month was rounded off with a trip to NAC Breda, and we came away with a fairly fortunate three points. We took and early lead through Leandro Damião, but after failing to add to the early goal NAC equalised just after halftime. A breakthrough didn't look like coming, but then we got a huge chunk of fortune as the NAC leftback hit an innocuous pass back to the goalkeeper who miscontrolled it and it rolled in to give us back the lead with less than twenty minutes remaining. Leandro Damião wrapped up the three points with a breakaway goal in stoppage time - 3-1 the final score.

We kick off September with a home fixture against Vitesse Arnhem.

[john1]

Good start to the season, good to see you opened a gap already Who is PSV manager?

[tomtuck01]

Good start to the season, good to see you opened a gap already Who is PSV manager?

Title already over.

PSV's current manager is a chap called Ruud Kaiser. He was appointed in the summer after Javier Aguirre left for Roma.

[tomtuck01]

Champions League Group Stage Draw - 2017/18

Amongst the second seeds once again, and Im delighted with the draw. Realistically we drew the "best" top seed we could in Atletico Madrid, aswell as possibly the weakest third seed in Basel. I can actually see us topping the group this year.

[john1]

Best group you could get! Good you wasn't in Group B

[tomtuck01]

Best group you could get! Good you wasn't in Group B

Thought that myself.......it's a real shocker!

[Torminator]

Haha group B is a nice one

Good luck mate! Cool that you keep yourself on such a transferfee contraint. In real life Ajax said they will never pay more than 6 mil. for a domestic transfer and 9 mil for a transfer from outside the eredivise, so you made it even harder for yourself.

[Vanikain]

I would say you got the best of the draw won't be easy but still better than the other groups.

[tomtuck01]

Haha group B is a nice one

Good luck mate! Cool that you keep yourself on such a transferfee contraint. In real life Ajax said they will never pay more than 6 mil. for a domestic transfer and 9 mil for a transfer from outside the eredivise, so you made it even harder for yourself.

Group B is hilarious.

Have they? Didn't know that - the maximum transfer fee and wages were just ways of trying and keep the save ticking along and fresh with me likely to dominate domestically. A regular turnaround of players is so far helping with that.

I would say you got the best of the draw won't be easy but still better than the other groups.

Couldn't agree more. The games against Atletico will be really tough, as will our other away games. I'd be expecting to beat Basle and Club Brugge at home though.

[tomtuck01]

Well, I was hardly going to reject a contract extension and £3,000 p/w wage rise! Delighted the board got it sorted out early aswell so it doesn't get in the way of things nearer the end of the season.

[tyler16]

Just caught up, great stuff.

Found the influx of Czechs interesting, curious to see which of them breaks through the quickest.

[deltablue]

Loving all the Czechs. Teach Simecek to dribble and he'll be deadly. Hopefully that comfortable CL draw will help you go far.

[tomtuck01]

Just caught up, great stuff.

Found the influx of Czechs interesting, curious to see which of them breaks through the quickest.

Personally I'm not sure which it'll be yet - they all have their plus points.

Loving all the Czechs. Teach Simecek to dribble and he'll be deadly. Hopefully that comfortable CL draw will help you go far.

He's already been on dribbling, and will again at some point! As for the Champions League draw, winning the group is well within our reach and hopefully that'll mean a better draw in the 1st Knockout Round.

[Vanikain]

Sparta Prague will either love or hate you with those transfers, but seems to have been good buisness going by the league.

[tomtuck01]

Sparta Prague will either love or hate you with those transfers, but seems to have been good buisness going by the league.

Well, the Czech's have been irrelevant to us so far - I've not used any of them.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - September/October 2017

Eredivisie

September

Two sound home wins and a decent away draw - a good month.

We started the month with a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Vitesse Arnhem with a much changed team. Queensy Menig gave us the lead after just eighteen minutes, and we eventually doubled our lead with nineteen minutes to go when Dejan Meleg fired home from long range. Youngster Niels van Zanten wrapped up all three points soon after with a close range tap in. Heracles then came to Amsterdam, and we comfortably saw them off by three goals to one. Anwar El Ghazi fired us into an early lead, and although Heracles equalised in the twenty-fifth minute, we were soon back infront thanks to a Branco van den Boomen header, and although Jairo Reidewald was sent off on the stroke of halftime, we sealed the points early in the second half when El Ghazi got his second of the game. We rounded off the month with a trip to Rotterdam to face Feyenoord, and we came away with a decent draw. Leandro Damião gave us the lead in the twelfth minute, but by the half hour mark Feyenoord were 2-1 infront. Leandro Damião struck his second of the game soon before the hour mark the level the game up at 2-2, and ultimately that was enough to earn us a solid away point.

October

Four wins from four this month, and we're eleven points clear even though PSV have two games in hand.

The month began with a good 1-0 win at NEC, but we had to come from behind and also missed a penalty. NEC went ahead after just ten minutes, and three minutes later we missed the perfect chance to equalise from the penalty spot but goalkeeper Etrit Berisha missed the target! Two goals in eight minutes before halftime from Lucas Boyé put us 2-1 up, and then another penalty, this time converted by Berisha, gave us all three points. Den Bosch then came to town, and with a few young players in the side we took them apart. We went ahead early on through Leandro Damião, but at halftime it was all square. In the second half though we cut loose, with Damião completing a hattrick. 6-1 the final score. Another home game followed, and this time we left it late before defeating Heerenveen 2-1. We went behind just after half an hour, but Lucas Boyé struck on the hour mark. A minute into stoppage time we won the game, with Queensy Menig flicking home at the near post. Our perfect month was rounded off with a comfortable 2-0 win at home to AZ Alkmaar. Two young lads brought into the team got the goals, with Robert Muric slotting home in the 16th minute, and Vaclav Cerny firing high into the roof of the net just after the hour. A comfortable win.

November begins with a fourth home game in a row, this time against VVV-Venlo.

KNVB-Beker - 2nd & 3rd Round

September - 2nd Round

A good win with a young side selcted. We actully fell behind in the 22nd minute, but soon equalised via an own goal. Summer signing Matheus Pereira struck twice in thirteen minutes, with Dejan Meleg wrapping up the win in stoppage time. Good, if not quite great performance from the younger lads.

October - 3rd Round

A poor, poor performance, but ultimately we got through to the fourth round. After just ninteen minutes we fell behind, with one of our former youngsters firing home. The equaliser finally came just before the hour, with Dejan Meleg firing into the bottom corner from just inside the penalty area. Both sides could've won the game before the final whistle, but the game did indeed go into extra time, and we eventually found a winner. Keeper Etrit Berisha got it, slotting home from the penalty spot.

In the fourth round Heracles away from home.

Champions League - Group Stage

September

A good start to this years Champions Leagie campaign, with us securing a comfortable home win.All the goals came in the first half, with us going 3-0 up by the 40th minute through Niels van zanten, Dejan Meleg, and a penalty from Etrit Berisha. Club Brugges got one back via a Jairo Reidewald own goal, but we comfortably held them at arms length during the second half to win solidly enough.

October

A great away draw and a great away win - we're top of the group with seven points after three games!

Things really didn't get off to a good start against Atletico, with us falling behind after just six minutes. We then found ourselves 2-0 down seven minutes before the break, but managed to get one back before halftime through Abdelhak Nouri. With just fifteen minutes remaining young sub Ezra Walian headed home the equaliser, giving us a great away point. We then went to Switzerland and came away with a 3-2 win in a real ding-dong affair. Anwar El Ghazi put us infront during the first minute, but six minutes before halftime Basel equalised. Niels van Zanten headed us back ahead in the 77th minute, but just four minutes later Basel had made it 2-2. We struck back with the winner immediately though, Ezra Walian again hitting a late goal to turn the game.

Basel come to Amsterdam with us looking to all but seal our passge to the next round.

[tomtuck01]

Love breaking a long standing record.

[john1]

Decent month

Good to see you're updating again

[tomtuck01]

Decent month

Good to see you're updating again

I was never not updating, just been a bit busy recently so it's had to take a bit of a back seat.

[SRL88]

I was never not updating, just been a bit busy recently so it's had to take a bit of a back seat.

I know that feeling.

[Kamakazeee]

Just read through this thread, cracking read and I love reading a career where someone sets themselves boundaries they have to adhere too. Must also comment on your writing style, top notch! Makes the whole thing easy to read and follow

[tomtuck01]

Just read through this thread, cracking read and I love reading a career where someone sets themselves boundaries they have to adhere too. Must also comment on your writing style, top notch! Makes the whole thing easy to read and follow

Thanks alot for this post, it means alot to read such nice things.

---------------

By the ways chaps, thread/save is certainly alive and kicking. I've just had alot going on recently and haven't had the time to update. Bare with me, updates will follow in due course.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas van den Leeuwen - AFC Ajax - November/December 2017

And January 2018

Eredivisie

November

Seven points from three games, so not at all a bad month.

We started the month with a 3-2 win at VVV-Venlo, but they gave us a scare early on. After just seven minutes Matheus Pereira put us infront, but by the tenth minute VVV had totally turned it around and we trailed 2-1. Two minutes before the break though we were level thanks to a second from Pereira. With the game drifting toward a draw in the second period, Ezra Walian won and converted a penalty to give us all three points. We then travelled to Deventer to face Go Ahead Eagles and played out a dull 0-0 draw. We dominated the ball yet failed to create any decent chances, whereas Go Ahead had the better efforts. Couldn't complain. The month was finished off with another poor performance away at FC Twente, but we came away with all three points thanks to an own goal after just sixteen minutes. We couldn't add to the early lead, but we did enough just about.

December

Seven more points from three games - sound month again.

Sparta came to Amsterdam at the start of the month, and we overcame them eventually, despite giving away a two goal lead. Vaclav Cerny gave us a great start, firing us ahead after just seven minutes, and then on the stroke of halftime Nikolai Laursen doubled our lead. Within just twelve second half minutes though we had let our lead slip, with Sparta twice scoring from corrners to square the game up. Thankfully Laursen provided a moment of inspiration, curling home from outside the box to put us back ahead. We sealed all three points with twelve minutes to go, when Teun van Zweeden got forward from rightback to fire home into the bottom corner. A trip to Eindhoven for De Topper followed, and we came away with a decent draw. After dominating the opening stages we finally went infront in the 21st minute when Abdelhak Nouri fired home an absolute screamer. We paid the price on the stroke of halftim for not adding to our lead, giving away a penalty which was converted. Neither side really created a significant chance in the second period, and the game petered out into a draw. Our final game of the month was at home to Volendam, and we stuck four past them. Eleven minutes before the break we finally broke through, when youngster Nicklas Røjkjær scored his first goal for the club, and in the last minute of the first half we doubled our lrad thanks to low finish from Niels van Zanten. Early in the second half van Zanten made it 3-0 after heading home from a corner, and then with eight minutes to go Ezra Walian calmly slotted home after being through one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Voldendam grabbed a goal in stoppage time, but it didn't ruin our day.

January

A great start to the new year, and we're now fifteen points clear after just twenty games.

Our first match after the winter break came against ADO Den Haag, and we gave them a real going over as we ran out 6-0 winners with defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah scoring twice from setpieces to help us on our way. A trip to Utrecht followed, and we just about overcame them, mainly thanks to goalkeeper Mickey van der Hart who put in a man of the match display. The decisive goal saw two subsitutes combine just six minutes after coming on, with Dejan Meleg squaring across the six yard box for Ezra Walian to tap into the back of the net. We finished of January by, eventually, thumping Groningen 4-1, with one man doing all the damage. Niels van Zanten headed us infront in first half stoppage time, but we then paid the price late in the day for failing to add to our lead when Groningen hit back in the 79th minute. Just two minutes later though van Zanten made it 2-1 with a neat finish, and he completed his hattrick almost straight away with a second header of the game. Van Zanten scored his fourth and our fourth in the 89th minute to seal all three points, as we hit Groningen on the counter attack as they strived to get back into the game. Excellent performance, eventually, with van Zanten the star of the show.

Terrific month and were flying right now.

KNVB-Beker - 4th Round & Quarter Final

December - 4th Round

A great result, but only after an early setback. Heracles went infront after just eight minutes, but we soon hit back when Damon Mirani headed home from a corner. A couple of minutes later Leandro Damião put us infront and before the break an own goal put us 3-1 infront. Eleven minutes into the second half Branco van den Boomen fired home from long range to further extend our lead, and late in the day young Czech forward Miroslav Simecek struck on his debut to round off a 5-1 win.

January - Quarter Final

Progress to the semi-finals after what was a truly brilliant 0-0 draw after 120 minutes of end-to-end football. Posession was shared, and chances fairly even. Goalkeepers won the day, with both of them achieving a rating of 7.5 - ours, Mickey van der Hart, was named man of the match. After the sides couldn't be split, the tie went to penalties and ultimately we won through, scoring all four of our kicks to win the shootout 4-2.

In the semi-finals we face a trip to Den Bosch.

Champions League - Group Stage

November

A disappointing draw in Belgium, but it followed a sound win at home and sealed our path to the next round.

Possession aside, we totally dominated against Basel, having 31 attempts compared to 2, and the 2-0 really didn't reflect how well we played overall. A fine header soon before halftime from Timothy Fosu-Mensah gave us the lead we deserved, and early in the second half Donny van de Beek ultimately made the game safe, firing home low into the bottom corner. The trip to Belgium followed, and the 1-1 draw was a disappointing result. Leandro Damião gave us the lead after 22mins, but Club Brugge hit back instantly. We really should have won from there, but we fluffed chance after chance and a point was all we eventually took home.

December

Brilliant result as we secured top spot in the group.

We took the lead early on when Ezra Walian's effort was fumbled into the net by Atletico's goalkeeper. Youngster Niels van Zanten doubled the lead just four minutes later, firing home after dribbling past four Atletico defenders. Just before the break though Atletico pulled one back, but we ran out 3-1 winners when Ezra Walian headed home sixteen minutes from time.

An excellent performance and result. In the next round we face Chelsea, with the first leg away from home.

January Transfers

A fair bit of business this term, with three players leaving the club and one coming in. Here are the transfers out;

Maarten Stekelenburg had asked to leave due to not quite playing as much as he wanted, so we were happy to let him for a minimal fee as it also got his wages off the books. I didn't particularly want to see Lucas Boyé leave the club, but he wanted to go to a bigger league and once his minimum fee release was met we couldn't stop him. We could not complain to be honest - two half years and £20.3million profit, not bad. Mattheus was in the same situation as Stekelenburg - he wanted to play more than he was. On deadline day Lazio made their move, and in the end we negotiated a price we thought was fair. Good luck to him, he's an excellent player and will be missed.

Here is the one signing made during the window;

Henrik Liereng - £475,000

A very good young player to add to our abundance of oustanding talent in the attacking midifield area. He has alot of qualitites already, and should be ready for first team football next season with a bit of refinement over the coming months.

[deltablue]

You've been doing great business there. Liereng seems like an amazing deal.

[tomtuck01]

You've been doing great business there. Liereng seems like an amazing deal.

It's always the aim - Liereng will probably be gone in a year or two for £20million.

[False 9]

Sorry to be off-topic tomtuck, but would you be able to send me you panels folder, as I want my player overview panel to look like yours, but I don't know how to do it. Thanks