What if Ajax had retained their best players in the last decade?

Luis Suarez scored over 100 goals for AjaxWhen Dutch clubs are a topic for discussion, the first club that pops into the minds of football fans is the Amsterdam-based team AFC Ajax. Among the big three clubs in the Dutch Eredivisie, they are the most successful with 33 league titles and 18 KNVB Cups apart from four European Cups.It is not just their success that defines them. The philosophy of Total Football has its roots at Ajax and it has since been imbibed by many clubs and even the Netherlands national team. But along the way, they have gone from a European powerhouse to just another team that makes an appearance in the Champions League group stages before making a swift exit. A lot of that has been down to selling their promising players over the years.So we decided to form a XI of active players who were sold by Ajax in the past 10 years or so. How far would they have gone in the Champions League?Formation: 4-3-3

#1 Goalkeeper

A youth product of Ajax, Maarten Stekelenburg spent nine seasons at the club before making a switch to AS Roma and later Fulham. Although he broke into the senior team in 2002 at the age of 20, he did not become the first choice goalkeeper until the 2005/06 season. However, he had played enough games to help them win the 2003/04 Eredivisie season.

Since then, he has won the Ajax Player of the Year award twice apart from winning the Dutch league title twice and the KNVB Cup three times. His performances also saw him become Netherlands’ first-choice goalkeeper after the retirement of Edwin van der Sar.

His most memorable tournament was probably the 2010 World Cup as his saves, especially against Uruguay and Brazil, were crucial to the Oranje reaching the final. He has made more than 50 appearances for the Netherlands under various managers before Louis van Gaal decided not to pick him in the 2014 World Cup due to his lack of appearances at Fulham.

#2 Defence

Tottenham Hotspur’s Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld played together at Ajax

Tottenham Hotspur’s Belgian central defenders Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld were both partners at Ajax and left the club a season apart. The two players have impressed at the north London club, especially the latter in the current Premier League season with Vertonghen’s season hit by injury.

Vertonghen joined the Spurs from Ajax in the summer of 2012 soon after winning the Player of the Year award the previous season. He had also taken home the Dutch Footballer of the Year award in 2012 and his first season with Tottenham also saw him make the Premier League PFA Team of the Year. A defender who scored 28 goals with Ajax, he brought those numbers to England with him and scored six goals in his debut season.

Alderweireld took a detour through Atletico Madrid and a loan spell at Southampton before Mauricio Pochettino brought him to Spurs. Six seasons at Ajax saw him win three league titles in consecutive years and a KNVB Cup before he decided not to extend his contract, after which Ajax had no option but to sell him.

PSG’s Maxwell (L) and Gregory van der Wiel

PSG’s full-backs Gregory van der Wiel and Maxwell complete the back four. Both players are two-time Eredivisie champions, although almost a decade apart. 34-year-old Maxwell has won titles wherever he has played, be it Inter Milan, Barcelona or PSG; with a total of 11 winners medals.

The Dutch Footballer of the Year for 2003/04 has also won the Champions League with Barcelona. Van der Wiel, on the other hand, was signed by PSG from Ajax in 2012 for €6 million and he has not looked back since, winning the league title in every season so far.

#3 Midfield

Wesley Sneijder

Wesley Sneijder is the first midfielder that comes to mind when we think of current players from Ajax. The Dutch star spent five seasons at the Eredivisie club and won a host of individual trophies such as the Ajax Talent of the Future in his debut season in 2002 and the Ajax Player of the Year in his final season in 2007.

Although he won just one league title, he has had a successful career with Real Madrid and especially Inter Milan where he won a treble in 2010. Forever linked to Manchester United, he now plies his trade at Turkish Super Lig club Galatasaray.

In defensive midfield, Manchester United’s Daley Blind gets the nod. Apart from winning the same awards Sneijder has won (in 2008 and 2013), he also took home the Dutch Footballer of the Year award in 2014 before sealing a move to Old Trafford.

Daley Blind

At United, he has played in a variety of roles from midfield to left-back to centre-back, displaying his versatility on the pitch under the guidance of former Ajax boss Louis van Gaal.

Another Ajax prodigy who has played at Real Madrid and also Tottenham is Rafael van der Vaart. The attacking midfielder was a star when he was still a teenager, with many dubbing him the next Johan Cruyff!

Rafael van der Vaart

Five years at Ajax saw him score 63 goals winning two league titles and countless individual awards, including the first ever Golden Boy award (best U21 player in Europe’s top leagues) in 2003. With over a 100 caps for Netherlands, Van der Vaart lost his way following his stint at Tottenham and now plays for La Liga’s mid-table club Real Betis.

#4 Attack

Christian Eriksen

Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen takes up the left forward slot having impressed ever since his U-17 days. He spent five seasons with the Ajax senior team and was part of the squad that won three consecutive league titles between 2011 and 2013.

Another player who has won the Talent of the Future award and the Talent of the Year award at Ajax, he continued his rich vein of form in the Premier League, winning the Tottenham Hotspur Player of the Year award in his debut season with the Spurs.

Luis Suarez

Before Luis Suarez terrorised Premier League defences with Liverpool, he scored 111 goals with Ajax in only four seasons putting him in an elite list which comprised of players such as Johan Cruyff and Dennis Bergkamp who had scored 100 or more goals. His third season in 2009/10 saw him score an incredible 49 goals in 48 games!

Easily one of the most technical players in Europe today, Suarez was one of the most feared strikers in the Eredivisie during his peak. But controversy also played a huge role in his life in the Netherlands and he made headlines when he bit PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal – the first of his many victims.

Eventually, he would make a £22.8m move to the Merseyside club, scoring 31 goals in his final season. That campaign saw him bring the Reds to the brink of Premier League glory before sealing a move to Barcelona after the 2014 World Cup.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

What needs to be said of Zlatan Ibrahimovic that is not known already? The nomadic Swedish striker has won league titles at every club he has played – be it Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan or Paris Saint-Germain. At Ajax, he won the Eredivisie twice. (Technically, he left in 2004, but we decided to give ourselves a little leeway to add him).

One of the few world class no.9s playing in Europe, Ibrahimovic has scored close to 400 goals in his club career, 48 of which came at Ajax between 2001 and 2005. Arguably one of his greatest goals was this solo run against NAC Breda in 2004.

Ajax XI if they did not sell their best players