The Amsterdam side's famous youth system is churning out top talents once again, but will they ever return to the top of the game?
“I have lifted a European Cup as a player,” Ajax legend and head of player policy Marc Overmars told NRC this week, “that's what I want as a director.”
Since the break-up of the iconic Champions League-winning team of 1995 that the former winger starred in, Ajax have been desperately trying to claw their way back to relevance on the international stage.
The Amsterdam giants are almost haunted by the memories of the glory achieved with a group of academy graduates such as Frank and Ronald de Boer, Michael Reiziger, Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids and, the final’s 18-year-old winning goalscorer, Patrick Kluivert.