Jordan Henderson has joined Ajax on a two-and-a-half-year contract, departing Saudi Pro League club Al Ittihad after just six months. The Saudi club confirmed that it agreed to terminate Henderson’s contract at his request.

“It’s been a difficult year for the club [Ajax] on and off the field, but that’s the same for me in the past six months,” the 33-year-old remarked. “I’d like to thank the club, the fans and all involved for the opportunity and wish them the best for the remainder of the season.”

Henderson joined Al Ittihad during the past summer transfer window on a three-year contract. This saw him depart Liverpool after 12 seasons, during which time he won the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.

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Dutch powerhouse Ajax is reportedly interested in bringing former Liverpool star midfielder Jordan Henderson back to Europe. Henderson is currently playing in Saudi Arabia with Al Ettifaq but reportedly wants to leave the club.

According to Sky Sports, Ajax is keen to take advantage of Henderson’s unhappiness with life in Saudi Arabia, seeing him as a perfect candidate to fix their midfield struggles. However, the Eredivisie side is yet to make an official approach as it remains unclear whether Al Ettifaq would part ways with one of their best players.

If Henderson is allowed to leave, Ajax might face quite a lot of competition for his services. Several other clubs would like to add them to their squad, including two Premier League clubs and one from Germany’s Bundesliga.

Jordan Henderson spent the majority of his professional career with Liverpool. He played 492 games with the club between 2011 and 2023 while captaining it to UEFA Champions League trophy in 2018–19 and Premier League title in 2019–20.

Henderson left Liverpool this past summer to join Al Ettifaq, which is coached by his former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard. Henderson played 19 games with his new club and has four assists to his name. Al Ettifaq is currently eighth in the Saudi Pro League, trailing leaders Al Hilal by 28 points.

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Ajax parted ways with manager Alfred Schreuder following the Dutch champions’ 1-1 draw with Volendam on Thursday; the team’s seventh consecutive league game without a win.

The draw sees Ajax slip 18 points behind Eredivisie leaders Feyenoord, with the fifth-placed side looking increasingly less likely to pull off the turnaround they need in order to revive their title hopes.

Schreuder arrived at Ajax following the departure of previous head coach Erik ten Hag, who parted ways with the Amsterdam-based club in pursuit of the managerial position at Premier League team Manchester United.

“This is a painful decision, but it’s necessary,” Ajax chief executive Edwin van der Sar commented in a statement. “Regardless of the good start to the season, we lost a lot of unnecessary points. The football itself was precarious too.”

While Ajax managed to get their season off to a strong start, the team’s performances soon started to slide, with their last league winning coming against RKC Waalwijk on October 23. Van der Sar further explained that while the club decided to give Schreuder an opportunity to use the 2022 World Cup break as well as the winter break to turn things around, it soon became evident that he was incapable of doing so.

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Bayern Munich is in the process of completing the signing of midfielder Ryan Gravenberch from Ajax. This comes days after the club completed a deal for his teammate, right back Noussair Mazraoui.

Expected to sign a contract until 2027, the official announcement of the 20-year-old player’s arrival at the club may be delayed until after the completion of his medical and final paperwork.

Gravenberch’s transfer fee is expected to be in the region of €19 million, with add-ons potentially raising it to €25 million. This fee would make Gravenberch the second most expensive signing under the age of 20 in history, behind Renato Sanchez who joined Bayern Munich from Benfica for a price tag of €35 million in 2016. He will also become the joint most-expensive Dutch signing in Bayern’s history, matching the €25 million price tag for Arjen Robben back in 2009.

The holding mid is expected to receive a significant bump in salary. Earning €4 million before taxes per season at Ajax, Gravenberch is expected to earn a cool €10 million per season upon his arrival at the Allianz Arena.

With an estimated market value of €35 million, Gravenberch is currently the highest valued player in the Dutch Eredivisie. Since breaking into Ajax’s first team during the 2020/21 season, Gravenberch has won back-to-back league titles as well as the 2020/21 Dutch Cup.

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Bayern Munich has secured the transfer of 24-year-old right-back Noussair Mazraoui from Eredivisie team Ajax. The Moroccan international is slated to join the Bavarian side on a free transfer once his contract with Ajax lapses in June. Mazraoui’s contract with Bayern is valid until 2026.

The first summer signing made by Bayern Munich, Mazraoui is expected to provide the reigning Bundesliga champions with some much-needed reinforcement at the back, particularly with Niklas Süle departing for Borussia Dortmund on a free transfer this summer. He also proves to be an alternative to France international Benjamin Pavard, making Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann spoiled for choice at right-back.

Mazraoui is believed to be the first in a duel signing, with Bayern also targeting his Ajax teammate Ryan Gravenberch at midfield.

A lifelong Ajax player, Mazraoui rose through the Dutch champions’ youth academy before breaking into the first team in 2018. During his time at Ajax, he helped his team to win two Eredivisie league titles and two KNVB Cups. He also competed in the squad that famously made it to the semi-finals of the 2019 UEFA Champions League, eliminating the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus in the process.

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Wednesday night’s Champions League group stage matches saw a whole host of Europe’s finest looking to earn their place in the knockout phases.

In the evening’s most high-profile clash, Chelsea upset Ajax at home with a narrow 1-0 victory. While the game looked set to end in a deadlock, substitute Michy Batshuayi fired home an unlikely winner in the 86th minute. In Group H’s other match, Valencia tied 1-1 with Lille to remain in third place.

Yet another much-anticipated clash was that between Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund. This hard-fought clash resulted in a valuable 2-0 win for Inter, who also has the threatening FC Barcelona in their group. Barcelona remains on top of Group F with a 2-1 win against Slavia Praha.

Moving onto Group E, and Liverpool continue their fine form this season with a 4-1 away win against Genk. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s outstanding performance resulted in a brace, while Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah each grabbed a goal apiece. They remain in second place, however, as group leaders Napoli retain top spot following a 3-2 win over Red Bull Salzburg.

Finally, the Group G clash between Benfica and Lyon ended in a 2-1 win for Benfica. This result came as a surprise considering Lyon’s dominance of the gameplay. These sides are 4th and 3rd place respectively, however, as Red Bull Leipzig leapfrogged Lyon and Zenit to grab first place. This comes as a consequence of their 2-1 victory over Zenit.

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While Ajax turned in an underwhelming performance during their first leg clash with Cypriot underdogs Apoel Nicosia, they did well to restore faith in their side by winning the second leg 2-0 in front of a relieved crowd at the Johan Cruyff Arena. This win sees them progress to the Champions League group stage.

From the kick-off, the Eredivisie champions were the dominant side. They dominated ball possession and were quick to string together a series of rapid scoring opportunities from early on.

While Apoel did well to keep a clean sheet for as long as they did, they eventually could not hold back the Dutch attack any longer, as Edson Alvarez put the home side in the lead with a stunning 43rd-minute header.

What followed in the second half was further Ajax domination, with Erik ten Hag’s side doubling their lead in the 80th minute through a thunderous Dusan Tadic strike.

Ajax manager Erik ten Hag had this to say following the victory: “We had total control and dominated, although the difference was one goal for a long time. That made it very difficult. I have to make a big compliment to the team. We were very good from an organizational point of view and were focused and disciplined. Fortunately, the 2-0 went down in the end.”

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Following the announcement of Ajax’s Champions League playoff fixture with Apoel Nicosia, Ajax was viewed as a clear favorite going forward. Unfortunately for the Dutch Eredivisie side, they were unable to find the back of the net on the night, with the match ending in a goalless draw.

While their Cypriot hosts managed to create a decent amount of scoring opportunities – 11 in total – it was Ajax who dominated proceedings, with a grandiose portion of 71% ball possession throughout the 90 minutes.

The Dutch outfit came close to scoring on a number of occasions, yet ultimately lacked the firepower needed to grab the three points. It was the Cypriot underdogs who almost pulled off an upset in the last half hour of play when Andrija Pavlovic headed the ball into the crossbar.

Ajax manager Erik ten Hag had this to say following the full-time whistle: “You have to bring good results in such competitions and we did. We started well but we became inpatient and restless”.

He then elaborated by saying, “We have the quality to improve our opportunities. We had four or five good opportunities tonight. We have to work on this every day. And above all remain calm in our heads.”

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After Liverpool defeated FC Barcelona to complete a stunning comeback and advance to the Champions League Final, few could’ve ever predicted that Wednesday’s Ajax-Tottenham matchup could live up to the drama of that game.

They had no idea what was in store.

After winning the first leg in London by a 0-1 final, Ajax hosted Tottenham in the second leg of the semi-final with a big advantage.

When Ajax scored the first two goals of the game to go up 2-0 in the 35th minute, everything looked settled. The Dutch team would be moving on to face Liverpool in the final after Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech stretched their aggregate lead to 3-0.

After the half, however, everything changed.

Unheralded striker Lucas Moura, an injured Harry Kane’s replacement, wasn’t going to allow his team to go home without a fight. He knocked in Spurs’ first goal in the 55th minute after a brilliant counter-attack.

Things got even more interesting in the 59th minute, only four minutes later, the Brazilian striker scored another goal after Ajax failed to clear an Andre Onana save.

The score was 2-2, and another Tottenham goal would qualify them for the Final.

Ajax held strong for the next 35 minutes, keeping Tottenham out of the net.

With the last chance of the game, in the 5th minute of stoppage time, the unbelievable happened.

Moura scored his third goal of the night in the final minute of stoppage time after a Dele Alli assist, and pandemonium took hold.

Spurs won the match 2-3 and the draw on away goals. They head to Madrid to face Liverpool in the UCL final for the first time in the club’s history on June 1st.

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Ajax’s magical run in the Champions League continued with a 0-1 road win over Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final matchup against the Premier League side.

Tottenham, playing without striker Harry Kane, was unable to find the net in the first of two Champions League matchups against Ajax. The Dutch giants now hold an important advantage in the matchup that will shift to Amsterdam next Tuesday night.

22-year-old midfielder Donny van de Beek scored the only goal of the night in the 15th minute of Tuesday’s match. Hakim Ziyech found van de Beek with a beautiful pass into the penalty area, and he buried the shot past Hugo Lloris.

The English side desperately pushed for a goal for the rest of the match at their home ground, but their attack was unable to find much open space in Ajax’s defense.

It just wasn’t Tottenham’s night, and now Spurs will have to travel to Amsterdam and win if they are to advance to the Champions League final on June 1st in Madrid.

Ajax will host Tottenham next Wednesday night at 9:00 Central European Time at the Johan Cruijff Arena.

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Jordan Henderson has joined Ajax on a two-and-a-half-year contract, departing Saudi Pro League club Al Ittihad after just six months. The Saudi club confirmed that it agreed to terminate Henderson’s contract at his request.

“It’s been a difficult year for the club [Ajax] on and off the field, but that’s the same for me in the past six months,” the 33-year-old remarked. “I’d like to thank the club, the fans and all involved for the opportunity and wish them the best for the remainder of the season.”

Henderson joined Al Ittihad during the past summer transfer window on a three-year contract. This saw him depart Liverpool after 12 seasons, during which time he won the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.

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Dutch powerhouse Ajax is reportedly interested in bringing former Liverpool star midfielder Jordan Henderson back to Europe. Henderson is currently playing in Saudi Arabia with Al Ettifaq but reportedly wants to leave the club.

According to Sky Sports, Ajax is keen to take advantage of Henderson’s unhappiness with life in Saudi Arabia, seeing him as a perfect candidate to fix their midfield struggles. However, the Eredivisie side is yet to make an official approach as it remains unclear whether Al Ettifaq would part ways with one of their best players.

If Henderson is allowed to leave, Ajax might face quite a lot of competition for his services. Several other clubs would like to add them to their squad, including two Premier League clubs and one from Germany’s Bundesliga.

Jordan Henderson spent the majority of his professional career with Liverpool. He played 492 games with the club between 2011 and 2023 while captaining it to UEFA Champions League trophy in 2018–19 and Premier League title in 2019–20.

Henderson left Liverpool this past summer to join Al Ettifaq, which is coached by his former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard. Henderson played 19 games with his new club and has four assists to his name. Al Ettifaq is currently eighth in the Saudi Pro League, trailing leaders Al Hilal by 28 points.

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Ajax parted ways with manager Alfred Schreuder following the Dutch champions’ 1-1 draw with Volendam on Thursday; the team’s seventh consecutive league game without a win.

The draw sees Ajax slip 18 points behind Eredivisie leaders Feyenoord, with the fifth-placed side looking increasingly less likely to pull off the turnaround they need in order to revive their title hopes.

Schreuder arrived at Ajax following the departure of previous head coach Erik ten Hag, who parted ways with the Amsterdam-based club in pursuit of the managerial position at Premier League team Manchester United.

“This is a painful decision, but it’s necessary,” Ajax chief executive Edwin van der Sar commented in a statement. “Regardless of the good start to the season, we lost a lot of unnecessary points. The football itself was precarious too.”

While Ajax managed to get their season off to a strong start, the team’s performances soon started to slide, with their last league winning coming against RKC Waalwijk on October 23. Van der Sar further explained that while the club decided to give Schreuder an opportunity to use the 2022 World Cup break as well as the winter break to turn things around, it soon became evident that he was incapable of doing so.

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Bayern Munich is in the process of completing the signing of midfielder Ryan Gravenberch from Ajax. This comes days after the club completed a deal for his teammate, right back Noussair Mazraoui.

Expected to sign a contract until 2027, the official announcement of the 20-year-old player’s arrival at the club may be delayed until after the completion of his medical and final paperwork.

Gravenberch’s transfer fee is expected to be in the region of €19 million, with add-ons potentially raising it to €25 million. This fee would make Gravenberch the second most expensive signing under the age of 20 in history, behind Renato Sanchez who joined Bayern Munich from Benfica for a price tag of €35 million in 2016. He will also become the joint most-expensive Dutch signing in Bayern’s history, matching the €25 million price tag for Arjen Robben back in 2009.

The holding mid is expected to receive a significant bump in salary. Earning €4 million before taxes per season at Ajax, Gravenberch is expected to earn a cool €10 million per season upon his arrival at the Allianz Arena.

With an estimated market value of €35 million, Gravenberch is currently the highest valued player in the Dutch Eredivisie. Since breaking into Ajax’s first team during the 2020/21 season, Gravenberch has won back-to-back league titles as well as the 2020/21 Dutch Cup.

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Bayern Munich has secured the transfer of 24-year-old right-back Noussair Mazraoui from Eredivisie team Ajax. The Moroccan international is slated to join the Bavarian side on a free transfer once his contract with Ajax lapses in June. Mazraoui’s contract with Bayern is valid until 2026.

The first summer signing made by Bayern Munich, Mazraoui is expected to provide the reigning Bundesliga champions with some much-needed reinforcement at the back, particularly with Niklas Süle departing for Borussia Dortmund on a free transfer this summer. He also proves to be an alternative to France international Benjamin Pavard, making Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann spoiled for choice at right-back.

Mazraoui is believed to be the first in a duel signing, with Bayern also targeting his Ajax teammate Ryan Gravenberch at midfield.

A lifelong Ajax player, Mazraoui rose through the Dutch champions’ youth academy before breaking into the first team in 2018. During his time at Ajax, he helped his team to win two Eredivisie league titles and two KNVB Cups. He also competed in the squad that famously made it to the semi-finals of the 2019 UEFA Champions League, eliminating the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus in the process.

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Wednesday night’s Champions League group stage matches saw a whole host of Europe’s finest looking to earn their place in the knockout phases.

In the evening’s most high-profile clash, Chelsea upset Ajax at home with a narrow 1-0 victory. While the game looked set to end in a deadlock, substitute Michy Batshuayi fired home an unlikely winner in the 86th minute. In Group H’s other match, Valencia tied 1-1 with Lille to remain in third place.

Yet another much-anticipated clash was that between Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund. This hard-fought clash resulted in a valuable 2-0 win for Inter, who also has the threatening FC Barcelona in their group. Barcelona remains on top of Group F with a 2-1 win against Slavia Praha.

Moving onto Group E, and Liverpool continue their fine form this season with a 4-1 away win against Genk. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s outstanding performance resulted in a brace, while Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah each grabbed a goal apiece. They remain in second place, however, as group leaders Napoli retain top spot following a 3-2 win over Red Bull Salzburg.

Finally, the Group G clash between Benfica and Lyon ended in a 2-1 win for Benfica. This result came as a surprise considering Lyon’s dominance of the gameplay. These sides are 4th and 3rd place respectively, however, as Red Bull Leipzig leapfrogged Lyon and Zenit to grab first place. This comes as a consequence of their 2-1 victory over Zenit.

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While Ajax turned in an underwhelming performance during their first leg clash with Cypriot underdogs Apoel Nicosia, they did well to restore faith in their side by winning the second leg 2-0 in front of a relieved crowd at the Johan Cruyff Arena. This win sees them progress to the Champions League group stage.

From the kick-off, the Eredivisie champions were the dominant side. They dominated ball possession and were quick to string together a series of rapid scoring opportunities from early on.

While Apoel did well to keep a clean sheet for as long as they did, they eventually could not hold back the Dutch attack any longer, as Edson Alvarez put the home side in the lead with a stunning 43rd-minute header.

What followed in the second half was further Ajax domination, with Erik ten Hag’s side doubling their lead in the 80th minute through a thunderous Dusan Tadic strike.

Ajax manager Erik ten Hag had this to say following the victory: “We had total control and dominated, although the difference was one goal for a long time. That made it very difficult. I have to make a big compliment to the team. We were very good from an organizational point of view and were focused and disciplined. Fortunately, the 2-0 went down in the end.”

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Following the announcement of Ajax’s Champions League playoff fixture with Apoel Nicosia, Ajax was viewed as a clear favorite going forward. Unfortunately for the Dutch Eredivisie side, they were unable to find the back of the net on the night, with the match ending in a goalless draw.

While their Cypriot hosts managed to create a decent amount of scoring opportunities – 11 in total – it was Ajax who dominated proceedings, with a grandiose portion of 71% ball possession throughout the 90 minutes.

The Dutch outfit came close to scoring on a number of occasions, yet ultimately lacked the firepower needed to grab the three points. It was the Cypriot underdogs who almost pulled off an upset in the last half hour of play when Andrija Pavlovic headed the ball into the crossbar.

Ajax manager Erik ten Hag had this to say following the full-time whistle: “You have to bring good results in such competitions and we did. We started well but we became inpatient and restless”.

He then elaborated by saying, “We have the quality to improve our opportunities. We had four or five good opportunities tonight. We have to work on this every day. And above all remain calm in our heads.”

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After Liverpool defeated FC Barcelona to complete a stunning comeback and advance to the Champions League Final, few could’ve ever predicted that Wednesday’s Ajax-Tottenham matchup could live up to the drama of that game.

They had no idea what was in store.

After winning the first leg in London by a 0-1 final, Ajax hosted Tottenham in the second leg of the semi-final with a big advantage.

When Ajax scored the first two goals of the game to go up 2-0 in the 35th minute, everything looked settled. The Dutch team would be moving on to face Liverpool in the final after Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech stretched their aggregate lead to 3-0.

After the half, however, everything changed.

Unheralded striker Lucas Moura, an injured Harry Kane’s replacement, wasn’t going to allow his team to go home without a fight. He knocked in Spurs’ first goal in the 55th minute after a brilliant counter-attack.

Things got even more interesting in the 59th minute, only four minutes later, the Brazilian striker scored another goal after Ajax failed to clear an Andre Onana save.

The score was 2-2, and another Tottenham goal would qualify them for the Final.

Ajax held strong for the next 35 minutes, keeping Tottenham out of the net.

With the last chance of the game, in the 5th minute of stoppage time, the unbelievable happened.

Moura scored his third goal of the night in the final minute of stoppage time after a Dele Alli assist, and pandemonium took hold.

Spurs won the match 2-3 and the draw on away goals. They head to Madrid to face Liverpool in the UCL final for the first time in the club’s history on June 1st.

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Ajax’s magical run in the Champions League continued with a 0-1 road win over Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final matchup against the Premier League side.

Tottenham, playing without striker Harry Kane, was unable to find the net in the first of two Champions League matchups against Ajax. The Dutch giants now hold an important advantage in the matchup that will shift to Amsterdam next Tuesday night.

22-year-old midfielder Donny van de Beek scored the only goal of the night in the 15th minute of Tuesday’s match. Hakim Ziyech found van de Beek with a beautiful pass into the penalty area, and he buried the shot past Hugo Lloris.

The English side desperately pushed for a goal for the rest of the match at their home ground, but their attack was unable to find much open space in Ajax’s defense.

It just wasn’t Tottenham’s night, and now Spurs will have to travel to Amsterdam and win if they are to advance to the Champions League final on June 1st in Madrid.

Ajax will host Tottenham next Wednesday night at 9:00 Central European Time at the Johan Cruijff Arena.

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