Last season was yet another filled with success for Ajax, seeing form that they would undoubtedly like to continue into the new season. A fourth consecutive Eredivisie title was wrapped up before the final game of the season, eventually finishing four points ahead of Feyenoord. Despite suffering two defeats to title challengers AZ Alkmaar and PSV Eindhoven in the first weeks of the season, an unbeaten run that stretched from mid-November saw the title seem easier than it looked. Just three defeats in the 34-game season for de Godenzonen, who were also held to 11 draws in the division. Led by Frank de Boer, the past few seasons have seen nothing but domestic domination from Ajax, as the man who secured his legend status as a player at the Amsterdam-based club has brought home four Eredivisie titles, though cup wins have been hard to come by. Despite being dominant in their route to the final of the KNVB Cup, they were hammered by fellow Eredivisie side PEC Zwolle, who ran out 5-1 winners.
Their captain last season was Siem de Jong, who has moved on to join Newcastle United, where his brother Luuk spent the second half of last season on loan. Despite the sales of their key talents from the season before, Ajax did not miss the likes of Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderweireld. The goals were shared out evenly across the league, with their two top goalscorers Sigþórsson and Davy Klassen scoring ten goals each. Both ended up 19 goals behind eventual top scorer Alfred Finnbogasson, who finished with 29 goals for Heerenveen.
The side haven’t managed to make much of an impact in Europe recently, failing to make it out of the group stage last season. They finished third, but with a respectable record in a difficult group, missing out by one point. In the group, which contained Spanish giants FC Barcelona and Italians AC Milan, they caused a giant upset against the Blaugrana, goals from Thulani Serero and Danny Hoesen helping a 10-man Ajax side to victory. They also held AC Milan twice, a goalless draw at the San Siro and a 1-1 draw in Amsterdam, a game which saw Mario Balotelli level the scores in the 94th minute after Stefano Denswil put Ajax in front in the 91st. They enjoyed even less success in the Europa League knockouts which followed their exit, suffering an embarrassing 6-1 aggregate defeat to Red Bull Salzburg.
Ajax have already made a host of signings to replace some of the talent leaving. They have sold their captain Siem de Jong to Newcastle, and Daley Blind has been linked with moves to the Premier League and Serie A. Eyon Enogh and Danny Hoesen left for a combined EUR1.4million. It would appear that the club have already found a replacement for de Jong, however, as they loaned in Arkadiusz Milik from Bayer Leverkusen for the coming season. Milik has been impressive in Ajax’s pre-season run so far, scoring in his most recent friendly against Real Sociedad, in a 3-1 win for Frank de Boer’s men. Nick Vergiever also joined from league rivals AZ Alkmaar for a fee of EUR2.5million.
Ajax are strangers when it comes to having a bad season domestically. Although they struggle in the cup at times, they have only ever finished outside the top six in the Eredivisie twice in its 58-year history, as they slumped to a 13th placed finish in the 1964-65 season. Since then, they have only been outside the top three on four occasions, most recently in 2005-06 when they finish fourth. Recent times have brought large success under Frank de Boer however, as they have won the Eredivisie in the last four seasons. PEC Zwolle and Ajax lock horns again in a repeat of last season's KNVB Cup final on August 3rd in the Johan Cruyff shield, which is the Dutch version of the Community Shield in England, the curtain raiser.
Eredivisie prediction: 1st
KNVB Cup prediction: Winners
Johan Cruyff shield prediction: Winners
Champions League prediction: Group stage