On Monday, Sim De Jong signed Ajax on a three-year contract, after which he immediately threw himself into training for the team. For the attacking midfielder, this is the first time in three years that he has returned to the training ground of the future training base.
Ajax has changed a lot in three years. Take, for example, the group photo of the 2013-2014 championship celebration, in which almost all of the players have left Amsterdam and moved to other clubs. Only Feltman and Schöne are still in the squad, though they were absent on Monday due to the national team's match week.
Of the Ajax players who remained in Amsterdam, two were still acquaintances of Sim De Jong. Dekkers was with Sim De Jong in the 2012–2013 season, and Sim De Jong was teammate with Huntelaer in 2007 and 2008. Needless to say, when De Jong held the league championship set aloft for Ajax in 2014, Bergkamp, Spikeman, Rami and Rekelhof were on the scene.
Ajax players will get a day off on Tuesday and the team resumes training on Wednesday. It's national team play week, and De Jong has nearly two weeks to get acquainted with his new teammates. Ajax will host PEC Zwolle at home in the fourth round of the Eredivisie on 9 September.
(Editor: Yao Fan)