Edwin van der Sar: "We have reached a level of football that nobody really expected" | Soccer

Last season, while the future of Ajax was balanced, the club's hierarchy convened seven of their most talented youngsters for a special conference and presentation. It was like a crucial moment. In Eredivisie, without European football to spice up the season, Edwin van der Sar and Marc Overmars, CEO and director of football, have drawn up a plan to prevent their best hopes of looking for a greener lawn.

André Onana, Matthijs De Ligt, Donny van de Beek, Frenkie de Jong, Justin Kluivert, Kasper Dolberg and David Neres were called to a meeting. They were shown a video, specially designed for them, where they were compared to an iconic player from the club's past who played at their posts. The message was unequivocal. Van der Sar takes back the story. "We said," If you want to be a legend of Ajax, you have to win something big ". In my eyes, it was really inspiring. "

With the exception of Kluivert, who may have had his own reasons for organizing to create his own path, everyone has absorbed the message. "They had confidence in the club," he proudly adds. "We had to talk to the young players:" Wait for us. Believe in us. We will make sure that there is a team that will challenge. & # 39; It worked wonders for us. "The defining moments of a team's life tend to happen on the field, but Ajax would not be currently in the Champions League The semifinals, having already beaten Real Madrid and the Juventus bragging, without this inspirational inspiration off the field.

This ideal of forming a successful team around his youth is clbadically Ajax. Nevertheless, it is extraordinary that they have created a contemporary example of something far too idealistic in the globalized and largely funded game of today. This is not realistic forever but Van der Sar intends to keep it as long as possible. "Marc and I were players. We flew the nest at one point to find another challenge and we know that it will happen. This is not a problem as long as they spend two, three, four good years of service at the club, win the championship, play an incredible football. So you can go there. In addition, for the young players of the academy to access the first team, we must create spaces. If you do not have space, the talent below is smothered. "

This desire for a continuous production chain, be it young people from the Netherlands or from other countries, remains paramount. Van der Sar pbades through the notable graduates of every decade from the 1970s to the present day. It's a hell of a list. "These are waves coming to Ajax and it's up to us now to make sure we're at the top of the wave that's in the trough."

Van der Sar is, it seems, very relaxed and has therefore shown a remarkable calm regarding the course of his club this season. However, he is aware that the European renaissance of Ajax has a global impact by reminding people that sports values ​​can exceed huge sums. "If you like sports, everyone knows the success of Madrid in the 60s, Ajax in the 70s, Bayern Munich, etc. Over the past 20 years, the world of football has changed a lot, mainly from a TV and commercial point of view. Many clubs have lost the prospect of what is a football club. For us, in Ajax, everything is a question of football. We have television rights and a sponsor of jerseys, but our country has eight or nine million people. It is therefore not important to compare ourselves to the first five leagues around us. "

Together with Overmars, the two veterans of the last Ajax team to win the Champions League in 1995 took advantage of the lessons of their former team to form the team that will continue this week its quest for the final of this year opposing Tottenham. One of the keys to unlocking the current team was the decision made last summer to buy two older players to bring experience and advice. Daley Blind and Dusan Tadic both had immediate influence. Van der Sar admits that it was out of character but logical.

"Economically, it was not the best idea," he says. "We were perhaps a bit reluctant to invest money in older players and we thought we could solve the problems with our academy. But let's go back to our experience. In 1995, we had a very young and talented team composed of Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Overmars, Frank and Ronald de Boer and Patrick Kluivert. We also had Frank Rijkaard and Danny Blind. They had competed at World Cups and won champions leagues. We have thought a bit about the former success of 1995. We wanted to combine the abundance of young talent with the experience. "

Van der Sar and Overmars had an important conversation with their coach, Erik Ten Hag. Critics were keen on his debut at the club and he learned to play with a style that reflects the panache of Ajax, cutting off the side pbades to become adventurous and expressive. "This is a firm message he has received from us," says Van der Sar. Ajax has not looked back since. Crucially, the feeling of being catapulted to a whole new level appeared at Bernabéu. "We have reached a level of football that no one expected from the outside world."

Van der Sar's new life began the year before he retired after a brilliant career when he received a call from Johan Cruyff. Shortly after, Dennis Bergkamp called. They wanted to probe a former Ajax man with unusual references – in addition to his football experiences, with multiple trophies, stays abroad with Juventus and Manchester United, and 130 Oranje caps, he was already planning a master's degree in sports affairs.

"Johan Cruyff told me that it's normally a lawyer or a businessman who knows the balance sheets and who can become the CEO. But, he said, you come from the university of football, the university of life, what a player must learn: setback, success, pressure, final, losers, error 91st minute. I did a Masters in Sports Management after my retirement, but that was a leap of faith that I had to take, which Ajax had to take. CEO.

Thinking about the future is essential, but it would be crazy not to savor what is happening before one's eyes at the same time. "My idea is not to sell seven players on this team, to stay competitive and reach those levels next season," he said. "But this season is not over yet. We still have an exciting month ahead with the opportunity to win three great prizes. The ambition, forged through this mix of history and the future, beats again in Ajax.