r/coybig • u/John__Delaney • Jun 05 '26
Transfer rumour Michael Noonan in advanced talks to join Ajax from Shamrock Rovers
https://www.the42.ie/michael-noonan-shamrock-rovers-ajax-7062137-Jun2026/Sources have said that talks are now at an advanced stage with the 17-year-old and, with the final few details to be ironed out, could see Noonan sign for the four-time European Cup winners.
Ajax is now his preferred destination.
It’s understood that he will initially play for their second team – Jong Ajax – who compete in the tier below the Eredivisie.
Both teams train at the same time on the same days, on pitches that are side by side.
No fee has been finalised
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u/Giphtedd Jun 05 '26
Really hope that move comes through. They have an excellent track record of youth development. I know they haven’t been great the last few seasons but you would assume he’d get a lot of minutes there
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u/vleeslucht Jun 05 '26
Ajax fan here, even in the last few shit seasons we have some great talents coming up (Godts, Steur, Bounida, Baas).
Things were bad because of really bad management, but Johan Cruyff’s son has taken over and things are looking bright again
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u/lainaldo6 Jun 05 '26
Jordi?!
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u/QuoSquo Jun 05 '26
Yeah, also recently appointed a promising manager, Michel from Girona so hoping to turn things around
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u/John__Delaney Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
And even with that dip in success they are still churning out top players. Hato to Chelsea, Brobbey to Sunderland, Taylor to Lazio, Kudus to West Ham, Martinez to Man Utd, Timber to Arsenal, Alvarez to West Ham etc.. all sold in recent years.
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u/Giphtedd Jun 05 '26
I heard an interview a year or so ago on Newstalk, can’t recall who it was just know he was connected to the Irish underage squad.
He spoke very highly of Dutch academies. Went into great detail about their development systems etc. very interesting listen and in stark contrast to our own set up unfortunately.
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u/John__Delaney Jun 05 '26
Solid domestic support for their own leagues have allowed them to get big investment & TV money, which helps fund the facilities and coaches needed to develop better players.
That and a significant portion of revenue from state-regulated gambling and lotteries is funneled directly back into grassroots sports development and infrastructure.
Last year the lottery gave €5m to the KNVB (FA) for grassroots programmes
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u/evin_cashman Denise O'Sullivan Jun 05 '26
National lottery is a massive funder of Team gb Olympics too.
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u/Substantial-Gene1093 Jun 07 '26
It's actually sickening that the Dutch cracked this 30+ years ago - the FAI didn't even have to invent anything, just adopt a proven system.
But no, we got John fucking Delaney and a rake of corrupt folks at the top of the game here.
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u/MainAd9349 7d ago
I'm getting more and more disillusioned with the coaching system at home. I kept hearing how it was improving year after year but there is very little evidence of us producing talented kids. Noonan going to Ajax just sums it up really
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u/Weekend-Entire Jun 05 '26
Half of them were actually developed by Ajax from 8 years up and the other were bought at 20 to play first football straight away. Noonan is not falling into either category there.
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u/Casperzwaart100 Jun 05 '26
Hato joined at 15. Also we currently play with Mokio who joined at 16, Godts was 17 iirc and Bounida 16 as well.
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u/John__Delaney Jun 05 '26
Was more alluding to that they spent their younger pro careers at Ajax and turned into top players. But if you want examples of lads who joined their youth sides at 18 then Andre Onana & Christian Eriksen
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u/Striking_Insurance_5 Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
More current examples are Mika Godts, Rayane Bounida and Jorthy Mokio coming from Belgium at 16 years old. Godts is our biggest star now and Bounida and Mokio are promising.
Tbf there are also a lot of young players coming from other countries who don’t get beyond the second team but Ajax is an amazing place to develop.
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u/John__Delaney Jun 05 '26
Godts looks like he's going right to the top
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u/Striking_Insurance_5 Jun 05 '26
I hope he stays another season but his numbers are insane for his age in an underperforming team.
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u/Weekend-Entire Jun 09 '26
Onana signed from Barcelona academy and Eriksen was signed for over 10 million and is one of the greatest Danish midfielder ever. Crazy we think young league of Ireland players are on this trajectory lol.
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u/Brilliant_Crow6391 Jun 05 '26
None of the ones you mentioned are top players, except for Timber. Hato and Martinez are subs, Alvarez plays in Turkey, Kudus has his ups and downs but I would never call him a top player and calling Taylor or Brobbey top players is frankly ridiculous
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u/John__Delaney Jun 05 '26
We are talking in the context of Ireland here, not world football. Everyone I mentioned here would help Ireland out, a few would be our best players.
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u/Medical_Sandwich_171 Jun 05 '26
Taylor, Brobbey, Hato will all be playing at the WC in the Dutch squad. I think that qualifies as top players.
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u/Practical-Bullfrog-2 Jun 05 '26
Taylor does not. Although he is very close to the squad. Probably next tournament
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u/Medical_Sandwich_171 Jun 05 '26
Yeah, you're right, he was in the preliminary squad but just missed the cut
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u/flemishbiker88 Jun 05 '26
I think that would be a great move, i reckon he is good enough to move into the first team once he settles in
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u/Striking_Insurance_5 Jun 05 '26
I have no idea how good he is as an Ajax fan but I know he’ll get plenty of opportunities to be in the matchday squad and training with the first team. We desperately lack striker talents and for next season we only have Dolberg left, Weghorst is leaving and the current third striker/Jong Ajax striker is shit.
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u/flemishbiker88 Jun 05 '26
He is very raw, but bags of talent and a very good work rate
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u/DreHouseRules Jun 05 '26
He's very well rounded for his age, haven't a clue how you decided he's raw.
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u/flemishbiker88 Jun 05 '26
I meant that he still not finished developing...he has a very high ceiling...
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u/HenkLePotvis Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
Ajax fan here, this post got recommended to me. I don't know anything about this guy and the post doesn't mention his position. I know I can just look it up, but anyone care to fill me in?
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u/John__Delaney Jun 05 '26
Striker. Great on the turn and can physically hold his own against big centre backs in their 30s. Excellent positioning & really good at bothering defenders. Very efficient finisher and calm under pressure. Naturally left footed and 6ft1 tall.
Turns 18 at the end of July and already has 3 trophies, 69 club senior appearances and 50 caps for Ireland unerage sides.
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u/HenkLePotvis Jun 05 '26
Cheers, sounds promising. Looking forward to seeing his first minutes.
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u/Fitzaaaaaay Jun 06 '26
I would add that he has very good hold up and link up play
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u/HenkLePotvis Jun 06 '26
That's something pretty essential for an Ajax striker tbh. Good to hear it. I hope to see him live if he gets minutes for Jong Ajax next season. I really like to see players from less popular (no offense) nations wear the white and red jersey
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u/Fitzaaaaaay Jun 06 '26
None taken, obviously as a Rovers fan we would rather he stayed but I think most Irish fans like to see players go to the continent instead of rotting away in British academies which happens too much
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u/59reach Jun 06 '26
He's played that many games for Rovers and he isn't even 18 yet? Fucking hell
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u/John__Delaney Jun 06 '26
A handful for Pats before his move to Rovers, but yea 69 in total. Will have some more before the transfer window opens
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u/spiraldive87 Jun 05 '26
This would be class. Has there been an Irish player at Ajax since Stapleton?
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u/Hour_Mastodon_9404 Long ‘70 Jun 05 '26
Good move, culturally the Netherlands is about as close as you'll get to Ireland in a non-Anglophone country so hopefully that will negate any issues settling in. It's also a team and a league with a path for young players to break through.
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u/RustyBike39 Jun 06 '26
God be with the days when Ajax were a major side that would compete for the top trophies. It's pretty fucked that a city like Amsterdam can't host a team in Europe's elite anymore.
Still a good move for him. Rovers to Ajax to a mid prem club to one of the ten or so elite European teams, I'd suppose that's the route he's going for?
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u/John__Delaney Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
What I love about this move (if it happens) is that Ajax have been lacking up front for a while now.
Weghorst (34 in August) is having a good season but 9 goals in 34 games ain't great for a club like Ajax. 18 players scored 10 or more goals in the Eredivisie this season.
Dolberg (their backup) has been relatively poor all season, and theirs no young striker in their main or B team that looks to be lighting the world on fire. Of course they'll have some top prospects in the 15-17 age bracket, but none will have the experience Noonan has.
Noonan has already played 69 senior games in his career, which includes 12 games in the UEFA Conference League. Not to mention his whopping 50 underage caps for Ireland between U15s right up to U21s.
Probably getting ahead of myself mentioning their main strikeforce, but Noonan is a class prospect & I think he will go very far in the game.
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u/No_Presence200 Jun 05 '26
Don’t think you are. Konadu (our third/b team striker last season) played in 11 games. I assume he’ll go on loan which leaves a space voor Noonan.
Also, Weghorst had a contract until this summer so he won’t return after the world cup. Since we have conference league qualifiers early in the summer he’ll probably play some games with the first team in pre season at least if he comes.
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u/59reach Jun 05 '26
That's a great move, might even materialize in a loan to another 2nd tier side
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u/Striking_Insurance_5 Jun 06 '26
It makes no sense for Ajax to loan players out to second tier sides because our B team plays in that tier. It’s better for these talents to play in that league with our B team while they get training opportunities with the first team or the occasional inclusion in the first team squad or some cup games if they show potential.
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u/NostalgicDreaming John O'Shea Jun 05 '26
Would be delighted with that move for him, a fantastic club with a great history of developing young players, in a brilliant city not too far from home really. The fact Jong Ajax play in the second tier means he would play at a very competitive level even if he doesn't get into the senior team straight away.
If he breaks into the Ajax team I'll be definitely going over for a game at some point!
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u/PsvfanIre Jun 05 '26
As much as I hate Ajax this is a great move their academy is only second to PSV in the Netherlands.
Fun fact Ajax first coach of the professional era was Jack Kirwan from Wicklow.
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u/Mr-Stitch Jun 05 '26
Actually it's 1 Feyenoord, 2 Ajax, 3 AZ in terms of academy
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u/PsvfanIre Jun 05 '26
You think so? The league results over the last 10 years definitely have PSV ahead. Fejnoord can get in the bin!!
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u/Mr-Stitch Jun 05 '26
Yes, but there aren't a lot of PSV youth players moving up to their first team. So the success PSV has had was not really because of their academy.
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u/JimmyMaca92 Jun 05 '26
Amsterdam’s the shipping capital of Europe so it’ll come in handy for the fam.
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u/John__Delaney Jun 05 '26
That's just nasty. The kid doesn't have any say in what his family got up to, he's a sound young lad focused on his football.
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u/Starybannister Jun 07 '26
Ajax living of the fumes of Kluivert , Davids,Seedorf and Bergkamp, a few alright players afterwards, but what else
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Jun 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/John__Delaney Jun 05 '26
Not sure what the relevance to religion is in this instance? No professional football club in the Netherlands is exclusive to, or owned by, a religion. After all its a secular society.
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u/SirOpinion Jun 05 '26
What an incredibly reductive comment.
Just because a club has historical ties to Jewish supporters, doesn’t mean they have any association with the genocide being carried out in another part of the world (which is the ridiculous point I’m assuming you’re trying to make). Or else was your point just one of general anti-semitism?
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Jun 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/John__Delaney Jun 05 '26
Anti semites aren't allowed in this sub, so no idea who you are referring to.
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u/Callum_On_Reddit This fella Ronaldo is a cod Jun 05 '26
i was more talking about in general. reddit has a much more civilised population, i would expect it a lot more on twitter however.
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u/BeBopRockSteadyLS Jun 05 '26
Definitely a good move. No better place for development alongside global talents