Wouter Goes himself chose to leave for AZ during the youth of Ajax. The now nineteen-year-old defender made this choice after doubts arose about him halfway through the season.

Goes played in Ajax's youth academy for four years until he was 12. When the traffic light 'turned the Dutch' during his last season, the talented mandecker decided to give it his money's worth. With this he wanted to avoid a forced departure.

“Those doubts from Ajax came as a surprise to me,” says Goes in conversation with Football International. “I played everything in Under 12, it went well. My parents and I had a conversation with the idea that the traffic light would be green, as they call it at Ajax. But it turned out to be the Dutch. Then you are a doubtful case.”

Goes received two points of criticism from the club. “They thought I had difficulty defending with spaces in my back and they didn't think my dribbling was good enough with the ball. That hit hard.”

To anticipate the moment when the traffic light would turn red, Goes and his entourage started calling around to other clubs. “AZ immediately invited me for a four-day internship. After the first training they said I could stay. Shortly afterwards, the traffic light at Ajax turned green. But then it was too late.”

Goes entered into discussions with both clubs, but had a good feeling about his meeting with AZ's head of training, Paul Brandenburg. “He made a big impression. It came with an entire PowerPoint presentation of a years-long development plan. In addition, during my very first training at AZ I noticed that everyone treated each other as friends. While at Ajax I had to deal with group formation.”

Goes won a starting place at AZ under trainer Maarten Martsen at the beginning of February and has since formed a central duo with Riechedly Bazoer. He has played eighteen times for the Alkmaar team so far this season. On behalf of the promising team, Goes played in eleven Kitchen Champion Division matches.

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