Who is Wesley Sneijder?

Although Sneijder came through the Ajax youth academy, he is not a native of Amsterdam. He was born in Utrecht, the same city Jan Wouters and Marco van Basten come from. He hails from a football family: his father was a talented player and his older brother Jeffrey plays for Stormvogels Telstar. There’s also a younger Sneijder brother who is likely to turn professional. These fraternal rivalries might have fuelled Sneijder’s competitive spirit - a tenacity which has seen journalists christen him the ‘pitbull with patience’.

Sneijder made his debut for Ajax in a 2-0 win at SC Excelsior on 22 December 2002 when trainer Ronald Koeman, troubled by an injury-filled squad called him up, advised by Danny Blind, the then-coach of the Ajax youth-squad. He rapidly established himself in the role of midfield general. Despite his slight stature, he is strong on the ball and his passing range is enhanced by his two-footedness. He is also a free kick specialist and finished the Eredivisie 06/07 season with a tally of 18 league goals. As of June 2007 Wesley has publicly stated that he wants to leave Ajax after spending 5 years at the club. Ajax are not allowing him to move but it is most likely he will move in the summer of 2007. Valencia CF is a likely destination.

National team
Sneijder made his debut for the Dutch Under-21 side against the Czech Republic on 28 March 2003 before being elevated to the full national team for the international friendly match against Portugal on 30 April aged just 18 years and 325 days. The prodigious Sneijder underlined his status as one of Europe’s premier young talents by scoring in both of the UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifying matches he played in, against Moldova and Scotland. In the finals he appeared twice from the bench as the Netherlands reached the last four. Out of condition, he lost his place in the team after scoring in Andorra in November 2004, but returned for the final stages of FIFA World Cup qualifying.

Club
Although born in Utrecht, Sneijder made an early move to AFC Ajax. Rising through the youth set-up, he found himself playing for Ajax legend Danny Blind in the reserves. Blind helped him work on his positional sense before recommending him to then first-team coach Ronald Koeman. His breakthrough season came in 2002/03, and his rise was meteoric. Within the space of one “crazy week”, as he put it, he played against AC Milan in a UEFA Champions League quarter-final and made his international debut. In 2003/04 played 30 times and contributed nine goals as Ajax regained the Dutch title.

2004/05: Sneijder had a disappointing start to the season and was fined for making a gesture towards Koeman after scoring as a substitute in the 4-2 Dutch Super Cup defeat by FC Utrecht. Regained his starting place, scored four in the league and appeared in the Champions League and UEFA Cup. In August 2005 he struck two late goals to take Ajax past Brøndby IF and into the Champions League group stage.