Christian Rasmussen hopes to break through at Ajax next season. The eighteen-year-old attacker had playing minutes in preparation against the Royal HFC (6-0 win), SC Paderborn 07 (4-1 win), Anderlecht (0-2 win) and Wednesday against Leeds United (3-1). He excelled with a goal and an assist against Leeds and was praised both during the break and after the game by Rafael van der Vaart, who was present as an analyst at the match for Ziggo Sports.
“Hopefully I can make my debut in Ajax 1,” said Rasmussen, who extended his contract until mid-2024 on Tuesday, about his goals for next season. “That is my goal and the reason I extended my contract. Today I showed that I have the qualities to get this far and play with the big boys.” Reporter Wytse van der Goot then asked Rasmussen if he showed enough against Leeds on Wednesday for a chance at the first. “I don’t know, hopefully”, responded the Dane, who was then interrupted by Van der Vaart.
Youthful Ajax beats Leeds United: ‘Why did you get Berghuis?’
Rafael van der Vaart already praised Christian Rasmussen during the break of the exhibition game.
“I’ll answer this one. A stupid question,” said Van der Vaart to Van der Goot. “You saw the game today: this boy should at least be on the bench. Of course. He deserves it. He may be a little impatient, although he can’t say that himself.” Rasmussen agreed that he is not interested in a rental period and wants to break through at Ajax. “I want to continue here at Ajax. That is the plan,” he said. Van der Vaart agrees and interrupted the interview again. “If you’re as good as him, hiring isn’t an option.”
Rasmussen came in the summer of 2019 for a transfer fee of three million from Nordsjaelland, where he completed the youth academy. In his opening season, the striker played matches on behalf of Ajax Under-17 and Ajax Under-18, before making his professional football debut in August 2020. Rasmussen made his debut during Jong Ajax’s 0-4 victory over Roda JC Kerkrade. Although the attacker already came to 563 playing minutes with the Amsterdam promises, he was not yet able to score. A contract extension was already in the air, as he was allowed to join the A-selection at the training camp in De Lutte.
Rasmussen prepared the 1-0 against Leeds and was responsible for the 2-0 himself. During the break of the match, Van der Vaart jokingly wondered why Ajax has brought in Steven Berghuis when it has Rasmussen in its ranks, but he nuanced those words afterwards. “Rasmussen is not the Berghuis type. Berghuis has to take over the Hakim Ziyech role a bit, while Rasmussen is someone of the one-on-one duels and does more on strength.” Rasmussen can be used in several positions in the vanguard. Van der Vaart does not think it is harmful in the longer term to praise a young talent like Rasmussen.
“That bullshit of ‘you can’t be positive’… You see it? What can you say, that he still has a long way to go? Everyone knows that, right? I think it’s such nonsense to say that someone does not do well because he is praised too much. We like good players. That is the nice thing about this afternoon: to stand here and see these players,” said Van der Vaart, who also highlighted another outstanding player. He was positively surprised by the eighteen-year-old midfielder Kian Fitz-Jim, who turned out to have more physical strength than he expected. Fitz-Jim already played 21 matches for Jong Ajax in the Kitchen Champion Division last season.
“When you see him walking like this, you initially doubt. Unfortunately in current football you need a little strength. But he turned out to be quite strong and had a few good moves where he walked past someone. good player, with a lot of calm on the ball. He doesn’t seem to worry,” said Van der Vaart. “Let’s be honest: we are here, but hardly know anyone. I asked John Heitinga (trainer of Young Ajax, ed.) who I should keep an eye on and then he named these two players. I will not say right away. that he has a lot to do with it, but…”, he laughed.