Dusan Tadic was elected Player of the Year in the Eredivisie on Wednesday evening. The captain of Ajax had a large share in the national title of the team from Amsterdam last season with fourteen goals and seventeen assists. The 32-year-old Tadic received the prize, an initiative of the Eredivisie CV and TV channel ESPN, in Holland Casino in Amsterdam, where an old acquaintance handed over the prize: Marko Pantelic.
Like Tadic, Pantelic has Serbian nationality and played in the uniform of Ajax in 2009/10. “I want to congratulate you and your family on this fantastic achievement. Without your family, it’s all worth nothing. Dusan, you are not only a fantastic player, but you are also a good boy and a real leader”, the former attacker addressed the captain of the Amsterdam club. “The people at Ajax see that and I hope you are happy at Ajax for a long time to come.”
?? Marko Pantelic may have lost his long hair, but not his sharpness?? pic.twitter.com/FLiwOP8SyD
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) September 8, 2021
“I wish you much success at this wonderful club and I hope you will win many more trophies in the years to come.” Tadic was surprised earlier in the evening with a video message from ex-Ajacied Matthijs de Ligt. “You’ve earned it. You are a great player and a great captain. Above all, you are a wonderful person. I learned a lot from you,” emphasized the Juventus defender. “You are one of the most professional players I have ever met in football.”
“Everyone at Ajax loves you.” Based on statistics and votes from fans, a list of twenty nominees was initially drawn up. Four of them eventually remained: Tadic, Davy Klaassen, Steven Berghuis and Giorgos Giakoumakis. Tadic was considered the best of those four. He owed this in part to the votes of the eighteen captains in the Eredivisie, who played an important role in the final result.
After last season, Tadic also received the Golden Shoe for best player in the Eredivisie, as the winner of a The Telegraph made ranking. There he left teammate Klaassen (Silver Schoen) and PSV player Donyell Malen (Bronzen Schoen) behind. A year ago, no prizes were awarded due to the discontinuation of the Eredivisie.