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DANNY BLIND

“THAT 1995 AJAX SQUAD HAD GREAT BALAN CE. VAN GAAL BUILT SOMETHING REALLY SPECIAL”

How do you look back on your time under Johan Cruyff, who brought you to Ajax from Sparta Rotterdam in 1986?

I was almost 25 then and some people were surprised by the transfer. Johan appreciated my qualities on the ball as I could build play from the back. He saw me as a missing puzzle piece in his team. I’m very grateful to him for bringing me to an Ajax team that already had Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard. Dennis Bergkamp was emerging as well. We won the Dutch Cup in my first year, and the European Cup Winners’ Cup, though sadly I missed that final due to injury: the day before the match, Rijkaard fell on my knee

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