Naci Ünüvar rattles at the gates as a tastemaker of Young Ajax

Friday, November 5, 2021 at 01:00• Yanick Vos • Last update: 20:10

For years, Naci Ünüvar has been regarded as one of the greatest talents of Ajax. Where other great top talents such as Ryan Gravenberch and Matthijs de Ligt broke through at the age of sixteen, eighteen-year-old Ünüvar still has to wait for his first minutes in the Eredivisie. The youth international is now emphatically knocking on the door of head coach Erik ten Hag, because looking at his development and statistics at Young Ajax, the step to the A-selection no longer seems big.

There is no doubt about Ünüvar’s footballing qualities in Amsterdam. While Ajax made an impression in the Champions League in the 2018/19 season, Ajax Under 19 coach Ünüvar showed the ‘big’ work in the Youth League as a fifteen-year-old. In a youth team with top talents such as Jurrien Timber, Sven Botman, Mitchel Bakker, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp, ​​Ryan Gravenberch, Noa Lang, Brian Brobbey and Sergiño Dest, Heitinga occasionally included Ünüvar in the selection. In the first group match of the season, Ünüvar came in as a substitute and determined the final score at 6-0 from eleven meters. At 15 years, 3 months and 6 days old, he became the youngest ever goalscorer in the Youth League. He lost that record that same afternoon to Olympique Lyon talent Rayan Cherki (15 years, 2 months and 1 day), who was accurate against Manchester City minutes later.

Ünüvar also made a name for himself abroad. In the summer of 2019, Ajax Under 19 was invited to Barcelona in honor of the opening of Estadi Johan Cruyff, the second stadium of the Catalans where youth teams and the women’s team play the matches. Heitinga’s team competed against the Barcelona peers and Ünüvar, then only sixteen years old, stole the show. Thanks to two goals from the Ajax talent, the team from Amsterdam won 0-2 and afterwards Ünüvar was a topic of conversation in the Spanish media. Mundo Deportivo called his performance ‘sublime’, Sport noted that Ajax had ‘a new star player in the house”. “It is a sixteen-year-old talent that Johan Cruijff would certainly have stunned. He was the star during the opening game of the new stadium.”

The moment Ünüvar excelled in Barcelona, ​​he had just received his first professional contract. Head of youth academy Said Ouaali called the capture of the then only fifteen-year-old player ‘great news for the club’. “Naci is a talented player who has been playing with us since junior high. He has the potential to reach Ajax 1 and become a player with international status,” Ouaali predicted at the time. Ajax TV. Ünüvar preferred a contract with Ajax to a chance at a foreign top club. “He was in the interest of foreign clubs. It is great that he chooses us, but there was certainly competition.” Ünüvar even said he knows nothing about foreign interest: “My father knows that and he doesn’t tell me. But I started here when I was eight years old and I want to succeed at Ajax. The club has a lot of confidence in me and I I’m also really an Ajax player. I think this is the best for me.”

In the season that followed, Ünüvar made his minutes with Ajax Under 19 and in the Keuken Kampioen Division with Jong Ajax. Early in the season, Henk Spaan, who has been following the development of the talent closely for years, suggested that Ünüvar make his debut in the first team. “For example, if Ajax is in the lead in the spring”, Spaan said in the podcast The Third Half. “I don’t think it’s hype. Ünüvar is just a really good footballer. He scores in important matches, has a very good free kick and you can play him with three men around him. I think he is a really good player.” Ünüvar even had to make his debut in Young Ajax at that time, but Spaan was already thinking further: “’It’s not at all crazy to bring a talent of sixteen, is it? Van Bommel also let Ihattaren make his debut at the age of sixteen last season and that happens a lot more in Europe,” he said in a statement. NH Sports Cafe.

Ünüvar, who reached the semi-finals of the youth World Cup in Brazil with the the Dutch Under 17 in the first half of the 2019/20 season, was regularly included in the selection by the now departed Jong Ajax coach Mitchell van der Gaag. It was a reward for the development of the youth international, who was named Talent of the Future in 2019. Before the 2019/20 season was interrupted by the corona crisis, the counter of the attacking midfielder annex left winger stood on a goal and five assists in the Kitchen Champion Division. Despite the season coming to an abrupt end, Ünüvar experienced the absolute pinnacle of his career so far. On January 22, 2020, he made his official debut in Ajax 1. In the cup match with SV Spakenburg, he came in fifteen minutes before time as a replacement for Siem de Jong. Five minutes before the end, he earned a penalty and crowned his debut with a goal from eleven meters. At the age of 16 and 223, he became the youngest Ajax player to score on his debut. Only Ryan Gravenberch (16 years and 130 days) and Clarence Seedorf (16 years and 210 days) were younger when they scored their first goal in Ajax’s first team.

Naci Ünüvar after his debut in Ajax 1

In the summer of 2020, another great message followed for Ünüvar, who had now extended his contract by one year until mid-2023. Together with the talents Devyne Rensch, Brian Brobbey, Kenneth Taylor and Alex Méndez, he was allowed to join the first team on a training camp. to Bramberg. Ünüvar’s star was on the rise, but stalled somewhat last season. In the first half of the 2020/21 football season, he had to settle for a supporting role under the then trainer Van der Gaag. The talent also realized that he was in a lesser period and understood that he did not have a base place. “I understood that and agreed. I then trained a lot and extra. Now my condition is much stronger and I score more than before the winter break,” said Ünüvar in an interview on the Ajax website. The fact that Van der Gaag approached him critically earlier that season did not really surprise Ünüvar. “I also knew myself what I showed and knew that wasn’t who I am. We then made a plan. I would run a double program and do extra strength training.”

The extra work on the training field and in the weight room paid off. Ünüvar said he was fitter than in the previous season. “Last season I was doing well, but I couldn’t complete 90 minutes. After an hour of playing I was broken. I can last much longer now than then,” said the attacker in April of this year. Being criticized by his trainer was new to him. “I’ve never really been criticized much,” nüvar acknowledged. “Everything always went well. In the media and on the street I sometimes got the reaction: ‘How is this possible?’ I was not used to that. But I knew what I was doing and what I had agreed with the trainer. I had to stick to our plan and train hard.” The eager Ünüvar said to wait quietly for coming to Ajax. “At Jong Ajax it’s not like you just quickly push through to the first. You have to be patient for that and luckily I have that too.”

With Dusan Tadic, Mohammed Daramy, David Neres, Davy Klaassen, Steven Berghuis and Mohammed Kudus, Ünüvar has a lot of competition in Ajax 1 in the positions where he can play. It is therefore not surprising that he has to make flying hours in the Kitchen Champion Division this season. This goes by trial and error, as has been shown in recent months. Ünüvar alternated highs with lows in the shirt of Young Ajax. The now eighteen-year-old wing attacker told last month in an interview with The Telegraph that he had a ‘false start’ to the season due to illness and the death of his grandfather. Last summer he had to leave the training camp in De Lutte in preparation for this season due to illness. “After that, my grandfather passed away, so I had to miss a match (against FC Dordrecht, ed.). But from that moment on it actually goes the way I want,” acknowledged Ünüvar, who is on the rise and excels almost every week.

In mid-October, Ünüvar was the subject of discussion after the duel with Jong FC Utrecht. He scored two goals and at times showed beautiful things on the field. Yet his goals and beautiful actions were not what was talked about afterwards. Ünüvar escaped a red card after a rash action against opponent Rick Meissen. His violation was punished with a yellow card and according to Kees Kwakman Ünüvar got away with it. “In the Eredivisie, this is red three times, with the VAR included,” said the analyst of ESPN that same weekend in the program Good morning Eredivisie. It was not the first time that the Ajax talent crossed the line. “For such an unbelievably beautiful footballer, he makes some very nasty fouls. And that should look a bit off, right?” the analyst wondered, while images were shown of Ünüvar showing how moments of beautiful actions alternate with serious violations. Kwakman advised Ünüvar to take an example from Steven Berghuis. “Not the Berghuis of Feyenoord, he often didn’t switch to that or too late and then he just kicked it, because he was too late. But the Berghuis of today. How he now switches at Ajax, Ten Hag has of course said from minute one: You want to play with us and at ten, you have to switch like Ziyech is going to do. And that’s what Ünüvar has to look at. Berghuis now does that without crazy things,” says Kwakman.

A week later, Ünüvar let his feet speak. In the 0-3 win against FC Eindhoven, he was good for two assists, the last of which went around the world. Just before the end of the match, he fabulously served Victor Jensen. With a 0-2 lead, Ünüvar ended up in the enemy penalty area and misled all opponents. While the ESPNcommentator thought the attacking midfielder was looking for a shot, Ünüvar did something unexpected. “Let’s see how he manages that,” said the commentator when the replay started. “There is absolutely no room there to get that ball to Jensen. With his back to the goal and then he does this… Great!” It was no surprise to anyone that Ünüvar was at the basis of another Young Ajax goal. He has created more chances from open play this Kitchen Champion Division season than any other player in the same competition: 29.

With seven goals and five assists in twelve games, Ünüvar is having his best season with Ajax. Looking back at the assist on Jensen, he talks to The Telegraph ‘in terms of technical skills’ of his most beautiful action ever in professional football, but he does not want to say that the assist symbolizes his resurrection. “I just try to have fun on the field and this was a great example of that. Of course a lot was said and written last season. That made me mentally stronger. I think I’ve been on an upward trend since January. You also saw that in the number of goals (six, ed.) last season after the winter break. Luckily I was able to continue that.” As far as Ünüvar is concerned, his good form should lead to playing minutes in the main squad as quickly as possible. “It is up to me to keep knocking on the door with my performance at Jong Ajax.”