Ajax Amsterdam striker Mounir El Hamdaoui reinstated to the first team
Dutch Eredivisie giants, AFC Ajax Amsterdam have reinstated their star striker, Mounir El Hamdaoui, to the first team after the player settled his dispute the club manager, Frank de Boer. Reports suggest that the striker has been made a part of the starting
eleven again after being demoted to the reserves squad in the aftermath of a 5 – 1 win over RKC Waalwijk in the KNVB beker Cup semi-final on 3rd March.
Boer had a reconciliation meeting on Monday with the Moroccan international and his agent, Sigi Lens, and it went well. The Amsterdammers’ leading goal scorer returns to the A squad.
Boer said, “The conversation went well. Each had his say. We were talking about many things. For instance, about the way things came out about Suarez and him. The truth was not written anywhere. It has since also immensely irritated me as well. Substantively,
we had a good talk.”
“We put a line under it and move on to what really matters. Of course, he has specific qualities and I hope he can show. He must try to be important for Ajax, his teammates and Himself”, he concluded.
The Moroccan international had remained sidelined due to his poor behaviour and missed out many important games. Boer’s side played five fixtures without the services of the Moroccan international and emerged victorious in only two encounters. The victories
came against bottom ranked Eredivisie side, Willem II Tilburg (3 – 1) and AZ Alkmaar (4 – 0).
The Amsterdammers missed his services the most in the duels with FC Spartak Moscow in the UEFA Europa League Round-of-16. De Joden were booted out of the competition after disappointing outings in the two-legged tie, as they were restricted from finding
the back of the net in both encounters. Consequently, the Russian outfit progressed through to the quarter-finals of the Europe’s secondary club competition with a 4 – 0 aggregate win.
However, De Joden boss was left fuming in anger in the aftermath of his side’s 3 – 2 defeat to ADO Den Haag at Kyocera Stadion on 20th March. The defeat has left the Amsterdammers trailing the Eredivisie leaders, PSV Eindhoven, and the reigning
Eredivisie champions, FC Twente Enschede, by six and five points respectively.
Boer would be hoping that the Moroccan international performs impressively in the remaining season and help his side achieve superior results. With the season drawing towards the close, the Amsterdammers will have to bag maximum points in all the remaining
encounters if they harbour any ambitions of lifting the Eredivisie title.