Marijn Beuker has committed to Ajax, Mike Verweij reports in the podcast Kickoff by The Telegraph. The 39-year-old director, who is praised for his work at AZ, comes from Queen’s Park in Scotland. It is the first major change that Louis van Gaal has brought about as advisor to the Supervisory Board.
“The deal is complete,” Verweij assures. Ajax just doesn’t know when Beuker can start. “He is in Scotland, just like Alex Kroes at AZ, with a notice period. They are struggling with that. They are trying to bring that forward. At Ajax, they would of course prefer him to start immediately. But he has agreements with his club in Scotland.”
Beuker will take on a director’s role, but is not expected to be directly involved in the purchasing and sales policy. Beuker is known as one of the founders of AZ’s successful youth academy. He was employed in Alkmaar for no less than fourteen years, most recently as director of football development. Van Gaal knows Beuker from his own time as head coach of AZ.
After Beuker left AZ at the end of 2021, he surprisingly signed with the ultra-ambitious Queen’s Park in Scotland. There, as technical director, he had to complete the chairman’s dream: setting up the best youth academy in Scotland.
To achieve this, he signed a ten-year contract with Queen’s Park, but he will not complete this for a long time. Queen’s Park has been doing well since Beuker took office. He won two promotions in a row and almost pulled off the same trick again last season. On the last matchday of the competition, the Scots lost their ultimate dream of reaching the highest Scottish level.
“According to sources within the club, Beuker is open to Ajax, where a special (director) position should be created for him,” wrote The Telegraph two weeks ago already.
“Together with the yet to be appointed director of football affairs and head of youth training, the former AZ player must thoroughly restructure the Ajax academy and safeguard the Ajax DNA.”