KLAAS JAN HUNTELAAR

'Klaas Jan Huntelaar' (born August 12, 1983 in Drempt, Gelderland, Netherlands) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a striker for Ajax and the Netherlands. He is seen as a rising star in Dutch football, having scored 33 goals in the 2005/06 Eredivisie campaign, making him top goalscorer. His nickname is 'The Hunter' and he has already been compared to the legendary Marco van Basten who is now the current coach of the Dutch national team.

Contents

Club career

PSV

De Graafschap / AGOVV

SC Heerenveen

Ajax

2005/2006

2006/2007

2007/2008

International career

Transfer Speculation

Career Statistics

Honours

References

External links

Club career

PSV

In 2000, aged 16, Huntelaar joined PSV Eindhoven’s academy and established himself as a prolific goalscorer for their youth team. He made his debut for PSV during the first half of the 2002-2003 season on November 23, 2002 in a 0-3 away win over RBC Roosendaal. This was however his one and only Eredivisie appearance for the club.

De Graafschap / AGOVV

Having failed to establish himself in the first team he was sent on loan to De Graafschap to gain experience. He made nine Eredivisie appearances for ‘the Super Farmers’ but failed to score. In the summer of 2003 Huntelaar was again sent on loan. This time to Eerste Divisie side AGOVV Apeldoorn. He was an instant success scoring 26 times in his 35 league appearances and finished the season as the divisions top goalscorer.

SC Heerenveen

After he turned down the opportunity to sign a new contract with PSV, Frysian club SC Heerenveen moved in to sign him for a transfer fee of €100,000. The following season he scored 17 goals in 31 matches to help Heerenveen qualify for the UEFA Cup. 2005/06 saw him score 17 goals in 15 matches, which earned him a mid-season transfer to Ajax, who paid € 9 million + future incentives for the player.^[1] A substantial sum went to rivals PSV Eindhoven as a result of the training compensation rule imposed by FIFA.

Ajax

2005/2006

Upon transferring during the winter break from Heerenveen, Huntelaar struggled in his first month with Ajax. It was only in February, in his fifth match for Ajax, that he scored his first goal in a Gatorade Cup tie against his old club Heerenveen.^[2] Once he had broken his spell of scoring drought, Huntelaar started scoring regularly. During the month of February, Huntelaar scored 9 goals in 7 matches for Ajax, including a header against Inter Milan on his Champions League debut.^[3] Huntelaar continued his prolific goal scoring for the rest of the season, and at the end was the top scorer of the Dutch league, having scored sixteen goals in the same number of appearances for Ajax, bringing his total for the season at 33 goals in 31 matches.^[4]
Since Ajax had finished second in the Dutch league, they would have to play in the European play-offs to secure a place in the third round of the Champions League. In the semis, Ajax faced their rivals Feyenoord, who had finished fourth in the league. In the first leg in the Amsterdam Arena, Ajax crushed Feyenoord 3-0, with Huntelaar scoring the final goal for Ajax.^[5] In the second leg, Ajax further humbled Feyenoord by beating them 2-4 in De Kuip. Huntelaar was once again on target, scoring the 0-2 for Ajax.^[6] Huntelaar featured in the defeat of FC Groningen in the final two games of the play-offs to secure Ajax Champions League football for next season, although he did not score.^[7]
Huntelaar scored a spectacular bicycle kick during the injury time of the KNVB Cup semi-final against Roda JC, which squared the match 1-1. Ajax went on to win the game after extra time 4-1 with Huntelaar scoring another goal in the 109th minute to take them to the final of the Dutch cup, where Ajax would face rivals PSV Eindhoven.^[8] In the final, Huntelaar went on to score a brace, including the winner, to bring Ajax its 16th KNVB Cup.^[9]

2006/2007

Huntelaar was the first player to score a goal at Arsenal F.C.'s new Emirates Stadium in a testimonial match for Dennis Bergkamp on July 22, 2006 - a match Ajax ended up losing 2-1 (although in the second half, which started off with Ajax leading 1-0, 'legends' like Johan Cruijff, Marco van Basten and Ian Wright played instead).^[10]

Huntelaar started the 2006/07 European campaign well by scoring a brace against Copenhagen in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League 3rd qualifying round.^[11] However, a shock 2-0 defeat away in Copenhagen meant that Ajax were demoted to the UEFA Cup, in which Huntelaar scored 8 goals out of 7 matches played.
In the Dutch league, Huntelaar continued scoring this season, getting 21 goals in the league as Ajax once again finished second. In the KNVB Cup, Huntelaar scored four goals in six matches, including a goal in the final against AZ that Ajax went on to win.^[12]
Finishing second in the league meant that Ajax once again had to play in the European play-offs to secure Champions League football for the next season. Huntelaar scored two goals in the second leg of the semi-final against his old club Heerenveen as Ajax went on to win 4-1 on aggregate.^[13] In the final Louis van Gaal's AZ awaited Ajax. Huntelaar featured in both legs as Ajax went on to win 4-2 on aggregate to secure a place in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.^[14]

2007/2008

The 2007/08 season started with mixed performances. Huntelaar featured in Ajax's third consecutive victory in the Johan Cruijff-schaal in a 1-0 win over PSV Eindhoven.^[15] Next followed the third round Champions League qualifier match against SK Slavia Praha. Huntelaar missed a penalty as Ajax went on to lose 0-1 in the first leg in the Amsterdam Arena, and a repeat of the shock exit in the 2006 Champions League took place after Ajax also lost the second leg in Prague 2-1.^[16]
In the first Eredivisie match of the season Huntelaar scored four goals to help them past newly promoted De Graafschap in an 1-8 away victory.^[17]

International career

Despite being in the preliminary squad, Huntelaar was not chosen for the Dutch national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Coach Marco van Basten explained that he felt Huntelaar would benefit from more experience and from playing at the UEFA Under 21 football championships, going as far as to say that it was up to Huntelaar to "show us there that by not selecting Huntelaar we did not do the right thing".^[18] While Holland went on to score no goals against quality opposition at the World Cup in Germany, Huntelaar led the Dutch to victory as the top-scorer of the Under 21 tournament with four goals, including a wonderful strike in the semi-final against France and a brace in the final against Ukraine. Huntelaar was named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament as a striker.
Marco van Basten decided to call Huntelaar as his starting striker in the Dutch National squad's friendly against the Republic of Ireland on August 16, 2006. Huntelaar paid immediate dividends by scoring two goals (another one was disallowed by a controversial off-side call by the referee, denying him the hat-trick), and making two assists, in Holland's 4-0 victory. However in his next seven caps he did not manage to add another goal.

Transfer Speculation

Huntelaar has been linked with several clubs, however Manchester United always seem to be the front runners. After a difficult start to the season and Huntelaars great start speculation has been rife that an offer will be made in the January transfer window for the prolific goal scorer. A fee of around £18million has been touted and with Ajax out of Europe, they may be tempted to sell him.

'Klaas Jan Huntelaar: International Goals'^[19]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	August 16, 2006	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland		0-1	0-4	Friendly match
2.	August 16, 2006	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland		0-3	0-4	Friendly match

Career Statistics

'All-Time Club Performance'^[20][21]

Club	Season	Domestic League		Domestic Cups[22]		Continental games[23]		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
PSV Eindhoven	02-03	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
De Graafschap	02-03	9	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
AGOVV Apeldoorn	03-04	35	26	0	0	0	0	35	26
SC Heerenveen	04-05	31	17	0	0	7	3	38	20
	05-06	15	17	1	1	6	3	22	21
	Total	46	34	1	1	13	6	60	41
AFC Ajax	05-06	16	16	7	7	2	1	25	24
	06-07	32	21	10	6	9	9	51	36
	07-08	3	5	0	0	2	0	5	5
	Total	51	42	17	13	13	10	81	65
Career Totals		142	102	18	14	26	16	186	132
Last updated September 3, 2007

Honours

★ 1 x Dutch First Division Player of the Year: 2003-04 ★ 1 x Dutch First Division Top scorer: 2003-04 ★ 2 x Johan Cruijff Shield: 2006, 2007 ★ 2 x Dutch Cup: 2005-06 , 2006-07 ★ 1 x Dutch Eredivisie Top scorer: 2005-06

★ 1 x Dutch Eredivisie Talent of the Year: 2005-06 ★ 1 x European Championship Under-21 Cup: 2006 ★ 1 x European Championship Under-21 Top scorer: 2006 ★ 1 x All-time leading Dutch Under-21 Top scorer ★ 1 x World's Top Division Goal Scorer: 2005-06

References

1. Transfer completed: Huntelaar to join Ajax for 4.5 years
2. Ajax naar halve finale Gatorade Cup door zege op Heerenveen
3. Inter recovery pegs back Ajax
4. Huntelaar evenaart topscorer Cruijff
5. Ajax in Arena ruim langs Feyenoord
6. Ajax bezorgt Feyenoord de ultieme vernedering
7. Ajax plaatst zich in slotfase voor voorronde Champions League
8. Ajax naar bekerfinale na zinderend duel tegen Roda
9. Huntelaar bezorgt Ajax met twee doelpunten de beker
10. Bergkamp given rousing farewell
11. Ajax verslaat FC Kopenhagen dankzij Huntelaar
12. AJAX WINT BEKER NA SLIJTAGESLAG VAN 120 MINUTEN
13. Ajax boekt ruime overwinning op Heerenveen
14. Ajax wint play-offs na goede zege op AZ
15. Gabri clinches Super Cup for Ajax
16. Slavia make Ajax pay the penalty
17. Timely boost for four-goal Huntelaar
18. Huntelaar en Castelen niet naar Duitsland, voetbalonline.nl
19. Gespeelde wedstrijden
20. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
21. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
22. Counts for appearances and goals during the KNVB Cup and Dutch European play-offs
23. Counts for apareances and goals at the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup and UEFA Intertoto Cup.

External links

★ Official website

★ UEFA profile