You need to know about Ajax’s No.10 double-act ahead of this season’s Champions League

After a four-season absence, record-Dutch champions Ajax will once again be playing Champions League football.

No one is expecting Erik ten Hag’s men to go all the way such is the fixed hierarchy of European club football, it’s now 14 years since a club from outside Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues has reached the final, but they’ve given themselves a chance of escaping their group which includes super-club Bayern Munich, Benfica and AEK Athens.

That glimmer of hope stems from retaining their crown jewels (i.e. Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong) as well as smart recruitment this summer. Daley Blind, for example, brings invaluable experience to his boyhood club as well as bolstering their game following the development he made at Manchester United.

He wasn’t Ajax’s only marquee signing. The powers that be in Amsterdam after giving last season’s player of the year Hakim Ziyech their blessing regarding a departure acquired the services of Serbian playmaker Dusan Tadic from Southampton.

However, there was a snag, Ziyech – despite oozing class – wasn’t picked up. No problem, if anything it keeps the Amsterdammers strong (which has made their rivals wary), as well as allowing manager Ten Hag to flex his tactical muscles.

Both, left-footed deep-lying forwards (or number 10s), have quickly established themselves as the club’s newest royal pair. Tadic, who subsequently inherited Ziyech’s number 10 jersey (a prerequisite before signing), has exclusively played from the left flank but with license to drift.

Ziyech, back to wearing ’22’ the number he donned as Ajax reached the 2017 Europa League final, has rotated between playing a wing role (opposite Tadic) or floating behind striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. A player of great repute, albeit by Dutch standards, the Moroccan international has in the past drawn comparisons with Mesut Özil due to his acumen and effortless finesse.

His preference to “make a decisive pass rather than score” has earned Ziyech the moniker ‘assist king’. No one created more Eredivisie goals (15) than him last season, and he’s picked up this campaign from where he left off.

Of their 24 goals across Ajax’s opening 10 matches in all competitions, which they’ve not tasted defeat, Ziyech has been directly involved in eight (equally scoring four and registering four assists).

Stride for stride Ziyech, playing some of his best football, is being matched by his new partner in crime Tadic.

To say the ex-Saint, a streetwise footballer, has hit the ground running is a gross understatement. No stranger to Dutch football, where he still is fondly remembered at FC Groningen and FC Twente, he’s so far bagged six goals and created a further four.

Goals and creativity to one side it’s their positional and pressing game that is slowly making Ten Hag’s side a daunting experience for those facing them. Ziyech, in particular, currently averages 2.6 tackles won per 90 minutes in the league.

It’s too early to make any sweeping judgements, but the partnership (as dynamic as anything out there) looks very promising. If anything they symbolise the slick collective spirit Ten Hag has forged. After all football is a team game and the pair are just two pieces on a chess board.

Ominously for their rivals, at home and abroad, they’ve only just begun.

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