Sydney FC marquee Siem de Jong’s connection to the story capturing football world
As Siem de Jong prepares for an A-League semi-final, the Sky Blues recruit reveals he could have been playing a major part in the fairytale storyline capturing the football world.
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If Siem de Jong was back in Amsterdam right now he’d be training with Ajax, pushing for a chance to play some part in finishing off Tottenham en route to a first Champions League final in 23 years.
Instead he’s readying for a semi-final of a different kind in the A-League, with a different club in Sydney FC, on loan and a long way from the trophy-hunting exploits of his parent club.
After this season is done, by which point the Sky Blues’ marquee hopes to have swept aside Melbourne Victory this Sunday and a grand final opponent after that, de Jong hopes to crack the first team back at the rejuvenated Dutch giants.
For now he’s been watching Total Football 2.0 from afar as the team he once captained and helped to four Eredivisie titles shoot back to continental heights not seen since the 1990s.
Ajax are in pole position to reach Europe’s final two, carrying a precious away goal into this Thursday morning’s deciding home leg against Spurs and riding on vibrant football that’s already propelled them convincingly past Real Madrid and Juventus.
Much like the rest of the world, de Jong predicts a final with Barcelona, who’ve already snapped up Ajax star Frenkie de Jong for next season and could yet cherry-pick more talent including 19-year-old sensation Matthijs De Ligt.
“Of course it will be a tough game at home but they’re in a really good position now to make the final,” de Jong told The Daily Telegraph.
“Then the final is only one game, anything can happen.
“The way they’re playing now and the confidence – it’s not just winning on luck, most of the games they’ve deserved to win, even against the big teams in Europe.
“It’s difficult for a Dutch team to compete with the teams in Europe, but this season everything has fallen into place.
“Barcelona has been the ultimate example of Total Football for the last few years but this season Ajax have shown if you really stick to what you believe in - that type of football - eventually you get the results.”
De Jong recalls sensing something special about the current squad even before he left in August to join Sydney.
“They had a few young guys who needed a few years, and this season they’ve spent a little bit more money to bring in a few really good older players for the style of play,” he said.
“It’s a really good combination.”
One of those more experienced faces is Daley Blind, a former Manchester United afterthought bought back by his boyhood club at the start of the season for €16 million (A$26m).
The 29-year-old defender is the person with whom de Jong still speaks most regularly, having struck up a friendship during his Premier League days at Newcastle United.
But given Blind is Ajax’s most expensive player, he cited youth development as key to continued success against European rivals boasting exorbitant budgets.
“The only thing is you’re always going to lose players to the big clubs,” he said.
“Of course you want to continue and have the next young players ready, but de Ligt and Frenkie needed maybe one or two years ... the new kids will maybe need one or two years as well, so you always have that transition period.”
That imminent transition is one on which de Jong hopes capitalise on once his loan stint finishes.
It’s unlikely the 30-year-old will be recalled by Steve Corica, leaving the final year of his deal uncertain.
“It’ll depend what Ajax says,” de Jong said.
“I wouldn’t mind going back and trying to break in there and play maybe another year at Ajax, because there’ll probably be a few players leaving and new players coming in.
“It presents potentially an opportunity ... you never know what my role can be there. It’ll depend on the club and the manager.”
In the interim he’s one of three Sydney players alongside skipper Alex Brosque and defenders Rhyan Grant and Alex Wilkinson left home to rest while the team attempts to keep alive their waning Asian Champions League campaign against Ulsan Hyundai in South Korea tonight.
The quartet are expected to be fit for Sunday night’s Big Blue knockout showdown at Jubilee Stadium.
“Eventually finishing second was good for us so we don’t have to play Perth in the first final, now we have to focus everything on winning these next two matches,” de Jong said.
“We’re in good form, we just need to keep it up for 90 minutes.”
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