Van Basten keeps faith with record signing
Wednesday, 22 April 2009 09:14Ajax manager Marco van Basten has backed record signing Miralem Sulejmani to come good after making little impact during his first season in the Dutch capital.
The 20-year-old joined Ajax for a Dutch record fee of €16.2million from Heerenveen in July 2008 after scoring 16 goals in 34 games in the 2007/08 season.
However, the Serbia forward has failed to reproduce that form for Ajax but Van Basten believes the striker will succeed. 'He has a difficult year behind him now,' Van Basten told Amsterdam TV station AT5. '
'I am still convinced that he is a fantastic football player. He shows that sometimes too, but there are also games in which he shows not much.
'He is just 20-years-old, comes from Heerenveen, has just come to live in Amsterdam and there is a price tag of €16 million around his neck. They are all things that have more influence on him than we ever thought.'
