Arsenal’s new central defender. You read it here first (unless you speak Dutch). « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
Will he come by bike?
By Walter Broeckx
We all know how most of the media in the big football countries are talking about transfers. I should have said lying about transfers. Every big name that goes along is rumoured to be sold, or has been sold or will be sold before, during, after the world cup.
Now I must say that I live in a rather small country with hardly any tabloids of the type that exist in the UK. I’m not saying we have the best press in the world, heaven no, but I must say that in the sports section we don’t usually get carried away and we splash around all the big names and the clubs they want to buy them or want to sell them.
So in this case I just would like to give you a thing that has appeared in our newspapers and well we will just see what happens with it. But I must say that it started this way with the Vermaelen transfer in our newspapers.
I think you have already heard about Arsenal having interest in Van Der Wiel from Ajax. The right back from Ajax and the Dutch national team appears to be one of the targets Wenger is going for.
But according to the press in Belgium, Arsenal is also talking to Ajax about Jan Vertonghen. I can imagine you saying: who?
Well that is another young Flemish defender from Ajax and he has almost walked the same path that Vermaelen did. He also played for Germinal Beerschot in the youth teams. Then he went to Ajax who was working together with Germinal Beerschot in those days.
In fact when Vermaelen left Germinal Beerschot in the youth teams, Vertonghen was the one that came to the Germinal Beerschot youth team. And Vertonghen also went on a loan spell when he was at Ajax first and yes, he also went to RKC Waalwijk and that was the same team Vermaelen went. And after his loan spell he made it in to the first team of Ajax.
- Vertonghen is also left footed and he is 1,89m, so he is a bit taller than
- Vermaelen and in English that should be 6ft 2.
- He is 2 years younger than Vermaelen and they have played together in the Ajax defence.
Last season Vertonghen played most of the season together with a player named Toby Alderweireld. And guess what……yes he is another young Flemish defender, even younger than Vertonghen. Another 2 years younger in fact. And I don’t know if you are going to believe me but before this boy Alderweireld joined Ajax in 2004 he came over from….yes Germinal Beerschot.
Last season Vertonghen and Alderweireld only conceded 20 goals in the whole season for Ajax and they had a few runs like 5 and 6 games without conceding a goal. It was the best defensive record in the Dutch league. And they were praised in the Dutch press for this achievement at such a very young age.
Vertonghen also is a player that likes to score a goal every now and then, just like Vermaelen. In fact if you look at the statistics Vermaelen scored 8 goals in 98 games for Ajax and Vertonghen scored 12 goals in 93 games so far for Ajax. So in fact his goal scoring record with Ajax is even better than Vermaelen’s record was.
The only thing that could speak against him is the fact that he also is left footed but in Ajax he has played in central defence, left back and left midfield. He also plays for the Belgian national team. And with the Belgian national team he ended in 4th place in the last Olympic games in China. In those Olympic games he played in midfield for the national team. Since then he has played 22 games for the Belgian national team.
I really wonder if Wenger would go for him and if there is any truth in this. Like I said our press doesn’t do transfer gossip just for the sake of it and to sell more newspapers. In fact it was just a small article hidden somewhere in the sports section.
To finish I like to give some petite histoire about Vertonghen so you might get to know him if he would come over.
When Ajax had won the Dutch cup after beating Feijenoord, their fiercest rivals in Holland, the team was brought on a stage in the Amsterdam Arena and the players were called forward one by one. When the announcer called Verthongen he took the microphone from the announcer and started singing a very popular song that Ajax fans sing when they play Feijenoord. The song goes like this: “They are only cunt cockroaches”. [Goodness I am glad we don’t have anything as rude as that at the Ems – editor]
Well it got the whole Amsterdam Arena rocking and it was party time and the fans all joined with him but the Dutch FA thought it not so funny and have banned him for the first two games of next season. Vertonghen did apologise a few days later in public and said that he was drunk at the time from the champagne he had been drinking after winning the cup. But you can imagine that he is a very popular boy with the fans.
In his first years in Amsterdam he also studied Sports Marketing, when he was already playing in the first team in 2008. He lived some 15 minutes from the training ground, which is near the Amsterdam Arena. And even in those days he went from his home near the university to the Ajax training ground using his bike. So he was a very unusual type of player if you think of all the other players coming in with their big and expensive cars.
Of course it might not be true, but in Holland he is described as a humble person who strongly believes in himself but very down to earth.
If you want to describe him in 3 words they say: plain, sober and modest (except when singing).
Last year he also finished second in the player of the year award in Holland. Is he the new Vermaelen signing this year? The unknown defender no one heard about?
Well we shall see (said the blind man).
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Other transfer news
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All the transfers this summer, including our new Argentine goalkeeper
The Squad: The 25 registered players, the home grown, and the under 21s
Reserves: Last season’s loans – who will make it?
Youth: Arsenal become the first team ever to retain the Academy title
The Golden 30: Untold’s readers vote on the best of the 2009/10 youth squad
Why our summers are always so miserable (and why we won’t be bullied any more)
Next season’s squad: who we’ve got who could we sign (the complete overview of all possibilities)