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If you thought Carlos Tevez was bad, you haven't heard the story of Ajax transfer rebel Mounir El Hamdaoui
The Morocco international made an impressive start to his career at the Amsterdam ArenA, but has since become a persona non grata who is training with the reserves
3 Feb 2012 09:35:00
YV
COMMENT
By Stefan Coerts | Dutch Football Editor
When the winter transfer window opened on January 1, there seemed to be little doubt that Mounir El Hamdaoui would no longer be under contract with Ajax by the end of the month. The former Tottenham Hotspur attacker has not made a single appearance for the Eredivisie champions in the 2011-12 campaign, and both club and player were desperate to bid farewell to one other.
Yet there was remarkably little movement around the Morocco international early on, and only in the closing stages of the transfer window did a move away from Amsterdam become a realistic option for the attacker. Fiorentina made an approach for the former AZ star, and El Hamdaoui immediately made it clear that he would be open to a switch to the Viola.
After several days of intensive talks, the striker travelled to Italy to undergo a medical, and a transfer appeared to be a dead certainty. Yet, negotiations between the three parties involved in the deal proved to be arduous, and there was still no agreement when El Hamdaoui again boarded a plane to Tuscany on deadline day.
Indeed, the forward's trip turned out to be fruitless, as the deal eventually fell through following Ajax's request for a bank guarantee at a time when Fiorentina could impossibly obtain one before the window slammed shut, thus adding yet another painful episode to El Hamdaoui's troublesome spell with the Godenzonen.
It all started for the 27-year-old attacker in the summer of 2010, when El Hamdaoui joined Ajax from AZ after three successful seasons in Alkmaar. The forward did not waste any time making an impact at his new club as he netted a brace on his debut against Groningen, before helping the Godenzonen to the group stages of the Champions League with a goal in the preliminaries against Dynamo Kiev.
But, things went wrong for the gifted attacker when then head coach Martin Jol threw in the towel in December 2010. The current Fulham boss was replaced by Frank de Boer, and one of the latter's first actions was benching El Hamdaoui for the Champions League match away against AC Milan, much to the dismay of the striker.
El Hamdaoui called in sick upon the team's return to Amsterdam, having no intention of returning to the training pitch following De Boer's decision to drop him. Accusations went back and forth for a number of weeks, and a winter exit appeared to be inevitable at the time. But, the attacker surprisingly resumed training during the winter break, and made his comeback in the league win over NAC.
Things were not meant to last though as the relationship between El Hamdaoui and De Boer was already beyond repair, and very few people were surprised when the Rotterdam-born attacker was demoted to the reserves in March 2011 after yet another quarrel with his coach at half-time of the
KNVB Beker win over RKC.
De Boer showed mercy one month later as the flamboyant attacker was once more reinstated to the first-team, only to finally lose his patience with El Hamdaoui at the end of April after the third bust-up in less than six months.
The Morocco international was again sent to the reserves and, much like the situation between Roberto Mancini and Carlos Tevez at Manchester City, this time there would not be a way back for the gifted forward.
El Hamdaoui, not only the best paid player at Ajax with an annual income of €2.1 million, but also the Eredivisie's top earner, refused to let the situation get to him, and joined Jong Ajax without any further complaints.
In the 2011 summer transfer window, Ajax were desperate to offload El Hamdaoui in order to get his hefty wages of their books, and there was plenty of interest in the troubled attacker. Lille, Saint-Etienne, Trabzonspor, Sevilla, Espanyol, PSV, Blackburn Rovers and Udinese were all believed to be keen on the striker, however, he was in no rush to move on and opted to stay at the Amsterdam ArenA when none of the interested clubs were willing to match his wage demands.
Nevertheless, unlike former Netherlands international Winston Bogarde, who infamously was happy to sit out his mammoth contract at Chelsea without any prospect of first team football, El Hamdaoui has now grown tired of his situation as he approaches almost a year of inactivity.
The 27-year-old had his heart set on a move to Fiorentina, and has reacted furiously to Ajax's behaviour in the proposed transfer. El Hamdaoui has even gone as far as threatening legal action against the Amsterdam giants for damaging his career.
Lawyers have stressed that he has little chance of success, though, as it seems the unhappy marriage between Ajax and El Hamdaoui will not come to an end any time soon.
Although the transfer market is still open in Russia, the striker has made it clear that he has no intention of moving to the Russian league. Consequently, Ajax and El Hamdaoui will have to put up with one other until the summer window opens again in the big leagues on July 1, and who would bet on more drama arising before the season's end?
Follow Stefan Coerts on
By Stefan Coerts | Dutch Football Editor
When the winter transfer window opened on January 1, there seemed to be little doubt that Mounir El Hamdaoui would no longer be under contract with Ajax by the end of the month. The former Tottenham Hotspur attacker has not made a single appearance for the Eredivisie champions in the 2011-12 campaign, and both club and player were desperate to bid farewell to one other.
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Yet there was remarkably little movement around the Morocco international early on, and only in the closing stages of the transfer window did a move away from Amsterdam become a realistic option for the attacker. Fiorentina made an approach for the former AZ star, and El Hamdaoui immediately made it clear that he would be open to a switch to the Viola.
After several days of intensive talks, the striker travelled to Italy to undergo a medical, and a transfer appeared to be a dead certainty. Yet, negotiations between the three parties involved in the deal proved to be arduous, and there was still no agreement when El Hamdaoui again boarded a plane to Tuscany on deadline day.
Indeed, the forward's trip turned out to be fruitless, as the deal eventually fell through following Ajax's request for a bank guarantee at a time when Fiorentina could impossibly obtain one before the window slammed shut, thus adding yet another painful episode to El Hamdaoui's troublesome spell with the Godenzonen.
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EL HAMDAOUI | LEAGUE STATS AT AZ & AJAX
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 MORE ON EL HAMDAOUI |
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It all started for the 27-year-old attacker in the summer of 2010, when El Hamdaoui joined Ajax from AZ after three successful seasons in Alkmaar. The forward did not waste any time making an impact at his new club as he netted a brace on his debut against Groningen, before helping the Godenzonen to the group stages of the Champions League with a goal in the preliminaries against Dynamo Kiev.
But, things went wrong for the gifted attacker when then head coach Martin Jol threw in the towel in December 2010. The current Fulham boss was replaced by Frank de Boer, and one of the latter's first actions was benching El Hamdaoui for the Champions League match away against AC Milan, much to the dismay of the striker.
El Hamdaoui called in sick upon the team's return to Amsterdam, having no intention of returning to the training pitch following De Boer's decision to drop him. Accusations went back and forth for a number of weeks, and a winter exit appeared to be inevitable at the time. But, the attacker surprisingly resumed training during the winter break, and made his comeback in the league win over NAC.
| HIGHEST PAID DUTCH EREDIVISIE PLAYERS IN 2011* | |
| El Hamdaoui - Ajax |
€2.1m |
| Engelaar - PSV |
€1.85m |
| Van der Wiel - Ajax |
€1.45m |
| Lens - PSV |
€1.15m |
| Janssen - Ajax | €1.15m |
| *bonuses included Source: NUsport |
KNVB Beker win over RKC.
De Boer showed mercy one month later as the flamboyant attacker was once more reinstated to the first-team, only to finally lose his patience with El Hamdaoui at the end of April after the third bust-up in less than six months.
The Morocco international was again sent to the reserves and, much like the situation between Roberto Mancini and Carlos Tevez at Manchester City, this time there would not be a way back for the gifted forward.
El Hamdaoui, not only the best paid player at Ajax with an annual income of €2.1 million, but also the Eredivisie's top earner, refused to let the situation get to him, and joined Jong Ajax without any further complaints.
In the 2011 summer transfer window, Ajax were desperate to offload El Hamdaoui in order to get his hefty wages of their books, and there was plenty of interest in the troubled attacker. Lille, Saint-Etienne, Trabzonspor, Sevilla, Espanyol, PSV, Blackburn Rovers and Udinese were all believed to be keen on the striker, however, he was in no rush to move on and opted to stay at the Amsterdam ArenA when none of the interested clubs were willing to match his wage demands.
Nevertheless, unlike former Netherlands international Winston Bogarde, who infamously was happy to sit out his mammoth contract at Chelsea without any prospect of first team football, El Hamdaoui has now grown tired of his situation as he approaches almost a year of inactivity.
The 27-year-old had his heart set on a move to Fiorentina, and has reacted furiously to Ajax's behaviour in the proposed transfer. El Hamdaoui has even gone as far as threatening legal action against the Amsterdam giants for damaging his career.
Lawyers have stressed that he has little chance of success, though, as it seems the unhappy marriage between Ajax and El Hamdaoui will not come to an end any time soon.
Although the transfer market is still open in Russia, the striker has made it clear that he has no intention of moving to the Russian league. Consequently, Ajax and El Hamdaoui will have to put up with one other until the summer window opens again in the big leagues on July 1, and who would bet on more drama arising before the season's end?
Follow Stefan Coerts on
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| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £50 in free bets! |
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|
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Morocco - Ivory Coast
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Ivory Coast
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Morocco 2-1 Ivory Coast
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Morocco 1-2 Ivory Coast
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Morocco 3-1 Ivory Coast
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 2-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
19:24 BST
No, no, no. I'll have none of that Emile Heskey shouting anymore! Hello, it's me, it's me, it's that D-O-Y-L-E. Yes, I'm Joe Doyle, and I'll be here for all the reaction to that England game. First things first, how did everyone see that game? Good performance? A touch boring? Let me know on Twitter.
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