When Maarten Stekelenburg left Everton in the summer, having previously extended his contract to be available for the end of the Premier League campaign, it was all presented as a case of the goalkeeper returning home to see out the end of his career.
He’d be going back to Ajax, where he came through the youth system, and with whom he’d won multiple trophies, to be back-up for Andre Onana.
The odd game here and there would be enough for the 38-year-old and he’d be able to spend more time with his family in the Netherlands.
Things have worked out quite differently since his Everton exit. Onana has been given a lengthy ban following a doping violation, and Stekelenburg is now Ajax’s senior goalkeeper, and managing to show he still has a lot of football in him.
Such is the turn of the events, there’s now even the chance of a recall to the Netherlands national set-up, with him named in the pre-selection for the coming international break, and that’s something De Telegraaf cover on Monday. They state the goalkeeper never closed the door on Oranje, and he’s quoted as explaining he knew that the only way back was the unlikely prospect of repeat matches.
That’s happened since leaving Everton, and Stekelenburg is quoted as saying: “It is nice that I play so many matches in a short time. I feel fine physically and keep going until my body says otherwise.”
De Telegraaf call it the player’s ‘second youth’.
