The 51 Debuts under Frank de Boer
05/12/2016
During his five and a half years as head coach at Ajax Frank de Boer 51 players made their official debut. Of those about half may be considered own youth, although whether or not a player is own youth is always a bit of a gray area. Can players like Lucas Andersen and Riechedly Bazoer be seen as products of the Ajax youth academy?
The average age of the debutants under Frank de Boer is 21.6 years, and this does show that he mostly gave young (and inexperienced) players a chance. Remarkably, this average age of debuts was much higher for coaches who had no Ajax background (Martin Jol with an average of 25 years, Henk ten Cate 26.2 years and Morten Olsen 23.44 years), while for coaches with an Ajax past (Marco van Basten 22.15 years, Danny Blind 21.92 years, Ronald Koemen 21.96 years, Co Adriaanse 21.12 years, Jan Wouters 22.38 years and Louis van Gaal 20.82 years) the debutants had a similar average age.
Frank de Boer had on average about every 5 matches a debut. For Marco van Basten and Henk ten Cate there were significantly more debuts, but this comparison is not really meaningful, because it is not surprising that a coach especially in his first year has more debutants and Marco van Basten and Henk ten Cate coached only briefly at Ajax. Louis van Gaal had significantly fewer debutants but the times were different then. From the other coach the past 25 years, only Ronald Koeman also was more than 100 official matches at tje helm at Ajax and the average number of debutants under his leadership was virtually identical to that under Frank de Boer, a fraction higher.
These figures from the past provide no guarantee as to how it will go under a new coach, but it seems unwise to ignore this clear pattern and then be surprised when a coach from outside Ajax mostly ignores youth players.
Filed under: Frank de Boer
Our Latest News
- What is a gap year? (4/24/2023)
- Hato and Alvarez in record lists (4/16/2023)
- NOS Studio Voerbal: Ajax intended to use lighter incident to reach Cup final (4/12/2023)
- Jorrel Hato Writes History (1/13/2023)
- Dear Edwin, don't spend too much this transfer window (1/7/2023)
- When I played at SC Heerenveen Ajax regulary got such penalties in Amsterdam (9/11/2022)
- Edson Alvarez should have been sent off (9/11/2022)
- Time for Evaluation part I - Ajax 1 Experience of the Current Squad (9/1/2022)
- Ajax Transfer Update 2022-23 (6/23/2022)
- Why Are Ajax Fans Turning Against Daley Blind? (4/5/2022)