Ajax and Youri Baas have reached an agreement on a new contract, the club reports through the official channels on Thursday evening. The new contract of the eighteen-year-old defender takes effect immediately and will run until the summer of 2026. Baas’s old contract ran until mid-2024.
Baas was born in Oostvoorne in March 2003 and has been playing for Ajax since 2018, when he came over from Excelsior’s youth academy. The left leg made his debut in professional football during the match De Graafschap – Jong Ajax (2-2) on December 11, 2020. So far, Baas has played 31 times for the promise team; in those matches he scored once. In the current season he played fourteen times in the Kitchen Champion Division.
‘My family and I have had to give up a lot’ ??#ForTheFuture
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The left back was also three times in the selection of Erik ten Hag for matches in the Eredivisie this season, but has not yet made his official debut. In the summer he did participate in several practice matches during the training camp of Ajax 1. Baas was then included in the selection for the home match against NEC (5-0 win on August 14), the away match against PEC Zwolle (0-2 win on September 11) and the away game against sc Heerenveen (0-2 win on October 16). Baas is also a youth international and played three international matches for the the Dutch Under 19.
“It feels great, yes”, Baas responds to his new contract. “I had to work hard to play at Ajax. I had to give up a lot, just like my family. My parents, grandfather and grandmother, uncle and aunt have helped enormously. Otherwise I could not have been where I am now. ” He is happy with a commitment for several years. “This shows a lot of confidence from the club. I have set clear goals for myself and I am willing to work hard to achieve them.”
Baas calls last summer’s training camp with Ajax 1 ‘very instructive’. “Normally you watch those guys on television and now you were allowed to train with them and play matches together. I learned a lot from that,” says the youngster, who, when asked, cites two examples of the first team as players from whom he can learn a lot. . “I think Dusan Tadic and Daley Blind. Those are leaders on and off the field. I can learn a lot from that.”
Due to the departure of Marc Overmars, Ajax is without director of football affairs, but technical manager Gerry Hamstra regularly takes care of the contracts of young Ajax players. He can therefore be seen in the photos that Ajax publishes of the contract signing. Hamstra supported Overmars, with the most important part being the contracting of talented youth players and the contract extensions of the players of Jong Ajax.