Miralem Sulejmani
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Miralem Sulejmani | ||
| Position(s) | Striker / Winger | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | AFC Ajax | ||
| Number | 10 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of February 6 2008 | |||
Miralem 'Mickey' Sulejmani (Serbian Cyrillic: Миралем Сулејмани) is a Serbian footballer of Gorani descent born in Belgrade on December 5, 1988, who currently plays for the Dutch club AFC Ajax as a striker and/or winger. He received his first senior cap for the Serbian national football team on February 6, 2008 at the age of 19. He is seen by many to be one of the rising stars of European football.[1]
Early career and controversial move to Heerenveen
Miralem's first club was local club BSK Batajnica, before he moved to the youth squads of Partizan Belgrade. He made his first appearance for the Serbian club in the 2005-06 season. Quickly, Sulejmani was branded as the next great talent from Serbia, and interest quickly followed from especially Dutch clubs like AZ Alkmaar, FC Groningen and SC Heerenveen. On December 6, 2006, one day after Miralem's birthday, it was announced that Heerenveen has signed the young Serbian striker, who would move to the Eredivisie-side in January. [2]
However, quickly, several arguments occurred between Heerenveen and Miralem's former club Partizan, not agreeing of the payments for the costs of the youth academy for Sulejmani. Eventually, FK Partizan after a meeting with the Football Association of Serbia suspended Sulejmani until May 11, 2007, keeping him out for the rest of the season. Heerenveen appealed to the FIFA and although the original verdict claimed that Sulejmani should not be suspended, a second look at the case was made and Sulejmani was suspended again. He made his debut for the youth squad at May 13, 2006, in a 3-0 win against Heracles Almelo, in which he gave 1 assist.
Later on, Miralem claimed that the restriction made by the FIFA was the best thing what could happen to him, as he claimed that it encouraged him to train as much as possible to be ready for his debut.
Debut season at Heerenveen
Finally, in the 2007-08 season, Miralem Sulejmani was able to make his debut at August 17, 2007 against Willem II Tilburg. Despite playing a good match, the match ended in a goalless draw.
The second match was against Ajax. In that match, Miralem went on to score his first goal for Heerenveen as the Serbian putted Heerenveen 1-0 ahead in the Amsterdam ArenA. However, the match was lost with 4-1, ending a 3-game winning streak in Amsterdam against Ajax. The results of Heerenveen early on in the season remained disappointing, but one of the few limelights of the team was Sulejmani, showing outstanding play on the wing. In the first half of the season, Sulejmani proved himself to be a worthy replacement during Afonso Alves' absence and scored 4 goals and produced 5 assists, including the assist for the winning goal against reigning champions PSV Eindhoven. Heerenveen regained themselves and as the squad grew, so did Miralem.
After Alves' departure to Middlesbrough FC, it was up to Sulejmani to lead Heerenveen's attack, in which he succeeded. His fine play even led to the (temporarily) departure of 13-time Polish international, Radosław Matusiak. Sulejmani quickly turned into a dangerous attacker full of creativity, always finding a way to get past defenders. Heerenveen even became championship contenders for a brief moment, thanks to the superb attacking play. At the end of the season, Sulejmani became the club's shared topscorer with 15 goals in 34 apperances, playing in all Eredivisie-matches and gave 10 assists. He also won the prize of the Talent of the Year-award, as a prize, he decided to donate a artificial turf-football field in his hometown.[3]
Heerenveen finished 5th in the Eredivisie, earning them a spot in the playoffs for the qualifiying round for the Champions League against #2 Ajax. Usually, the number 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Eredivisie are ensured of at least UEFA Cup-football, but thanks to the fact that Feyenoord, who finished 6th in the league, won the KNVB-Beker, the loser of the playoffs will wind up playing the Intertoto Cup. Sulejmani will not participate in the playoffs, because of a injury to the meniscus, which will sideline him for the rest of the season. Heerenveen lost the first round to Ajax 5-2 on aggregate and went on to face NAC Breda, who finished 3rd in the league, in the losers-round for the final ticket for the UEFA Cup.
The impressive debut season of Sulejmani did not remained unnoticed. Towards of the end of his first season at Heerenveen, reports came of interest of Feyenoord, AFC Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and even Chelsea FC.[4]
Move to AFC Ajax
After weeks of speculation, the transfer-soap of Sulejmani finally ended on July 4, 2008, when AFC Ajax announced on the official website that Heerenveen and Ajax have reached an agreement of the transfer of Miralem. Ajax will pay 16.25 million euros to Heerenveen, breaking the Dutch transfer-record, with the previous record also having been for a transfer between the two Eredivisie-clubs for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.[5]
In Amsterdam, Sulejmani signed a 5-year contract with Ajax, ending on June 30, 2013. Sulejmani claimed in an interview that he himself didn't even knew that Ajax paid over 16 million euros for his services. [6] I am a footballer and i only want to think about football, are the words of Miralem.
References
- ^ "Macedonia holds Serbia to 1-1 draw in friendly in Skopje". Associated Press. 2008-02-06. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Voetbalnieuws: Heerenveen: Sulejmani komt, Kissi vertrekt - FCUpdate.nl
- ^ Sulejmani volgt Afellay op als Grootste Talent van het Seizoen
- ^ Sky Sports | Football | Premier League | Chelsea | Sulejmani wants big move
- ^ Ajax.nl | Football | Eredivisie | AFC Ajax | Ajax en sc Heerenveen akkoord over Sulejmani
- ^ Sulejmani gaat voor landstitel
External links
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