Urby Emanuelson
Urby Vitorrio Diego Emanuelson is a Dutch former professional footballer. He is the currently assistant trainer of Jong Ajax.
As a product of the Ajax Youth Academy, Emanuelson spent most of his career at Ajax playing as a left wing-back, before being played more as a left midfielder or left winger by manager Martin Jol. As a result, he flourished in his new role on the left wing, frequently making runs and assisting from the flanks while scoring goals himself. After his move to AC Milan, his then-manager Massimiliano Allegri played Emanuelson also as an attacking midfielder, midfielder and right winger.
Club career
Ajax
Emanuelson is a product of Ajax's youth system, joining them from Voorland SC. Having progressed through the club's youth system, he signed his first professional contract, keeping him until 2006. Having been called up to the first team on two occasions, on 24 February 2005 Emanuelson made his Ajax debut, coming on as a 79th-minute substitute, in a 3–1 loss against Auxerre in the second leg of the UEFA Cup Round of 32. He made his debut during the 2004–05 season on 10 April 2005, coming on as a 78th-minute substitute, in a 4–2 home win over AZ Alkmaar. Emanuelson later made three more appearances, adding up his tally to five at the end of the 2004–05 season.Ahead of the 2005–06 season, Emanuelson was linked a move away from Ajax, as several clubs were interested in signing him on loan, but he ended up staying at the club. Emanuelson made his first appearance of the season, starting in the left–back position against PSV Eindhoven in the Johan Cruyff Shield and helped Ajax win 2–1, winning his first trophy in his career. Since the start of the 2005–06 season, he quickly became first-choice left back and impressed in a number of matches for the club. At times, Emanuelson rotated in playing in the left–midfield position. He then helped Ajax beat Brøndby in both legs, as the club won 5–3 on aggregate. This lasted until Emanuelson was sidelined with an injury that saw him miss four matches for Ajax. On 27 December 2005 he returned to the first team, coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute, in a 3–2 win against FC Groningen. Since returning from the sidelines, Emanuelson appeared in the next eleven matches for the club, mostly playing in the left–back position and rotated in the midfield position on two occasions. On 22 January 2006 he came on as an 82nd-minute substitute and scored his first Ajax goal, which turned out to be the winning goal, in a 3–2 win. Two weeks later on 2 February 2006, Emanuelson scored his second goal for the club, in a 3–0 win against SC Heerenveen in the quarter–finals of the KNVB Beker. By March, however, he suffered a muscle injury that expected him to be sidelined for the rest of the 2005–06 season. Following a transfer speculation reporting that Palermo wanted sign to Emanuelson, he signed a contract extension with Ajax, keeping him until 2011, ending the transfer speculation. On 16 April 2006 Emanuelson returned to the starting line–up in the last game of the season, in a 4–2 win against RKC Waalwijk. He played four times in the newly born Eredivisie play-offs after finishing in the fifth position in the regular competition. In the play-offs, they defeated Feyenoord but lost to FC Groningen in the club's unsuccessful attempt to claim a spot in the Champions League preliminaries for the following season. In the final of the KNVB Cup against PSV Eindhoven, he started in the left–back position with Ajax and helped the side win 2–1. As a result, his efforts resulted in him being named "Amsterdam talent of the year 2006" alongside Thomas Vermaelen. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Emanuelson made forty–one appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.
File:Oslavy Ajaxu.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Emanuelson played for Ajax from 2004 to 2011.
At the start of the 2006–07 season, Emanuelson played the whole game, as Ajax beat PSV Eindhoven 3–1 to win the Johan Cruyff Shield. He quickly regained his first team place, rotating in the left–back position and midfield positions. However, Emanuelson played in both legs of the third round of the UEFA Champions League against Copenhagen, as the club were eliminated following a 4–1 defeat on aggregate. On 14 October 2006 he scored his first goal for Ajax, in a 3–2 win against FC Groningen. This was followed up by helping the club keeping three out of the four consecutive clean sheets, in which Emanuelson played in the left–back position. In a match against Sparta Prague, Emanuelson was sent–off for a second bookable offence, as they drew 0–0. Despite this, he then scored his second goal of the season, in a 6–0 win against Willem II on 3 December 2006. By the end of the year, Emanuelson was nominated for the Golden Boy, but won the 2006's Amsterdam Talent award. He continued to start in the first team until a knee injury sustained during a 4–1 win against Feyenoord on 4 February 2007 saw him sidelined for a month. On 4 March 2007 Emanuelson made a return to the starting line–up, in a 1–0 loss against SC Heerenveen. This was followed up by setting up two goals, in a 4–1 win against FC Twente. In the last game of the season against Willem II, Emanuelson scored his third goal of the season, in a 2–0 win. Once again, he played four times in the newly born Eredivisie play-offs after finishing in the second position in the regular competition. In the play-offs, they defeated Heerenveen and AZ Alkmaar to claim a spot in the Champions League preliminaries for the following season. Emanuelson was featured in the KNVB Cup Final against AZ, playing 120 minutes and finishing 1–1 as Ajax went on to lose 8–7 as a result and win the tournament for the second time in a row. At the end of the 2006–07 season, he went on to make forty–six appearances and scoring three times in all competitions.
At the start of the 2007–08 season, Emanuelson played the whole game, as Ajax beat PSV Eindhoven 1–0 to win the Johan Cruyff Shield with the former won for the third consecutive year. However, he played in four European matches that saw the club eliminated by Slavia Prague and Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup. Despite this, Emanuelson continued to regain his first team place, playing in the left–back position, though he stated in an interview of his disappointment over lack of cover in the left–back position. This lasted until Emanuelson suffered a knee injury that kept him out for two weeks. On 11 November 2007 he returned to the starting line–up, playing in the centre–midfield position, in a 2–2 draw against Feyenoord. Following his return from injury, Emanuelson continued to regain his first team place, playing in the left–back position. In a match against FC Utrecht on 23 January 2008, he suffered a knee injury that saw him substituted in the 74th minute. Although Manager Adrie Koster confirmed that Emanuelson suffered a bruise of a knee injury, his injury turned out to be not too bad as first thought. In a follow–up match against Vitesse, he scored his first goal of the season, in a 2–2 draw. By February, Emanuelson began primarily played as a left midfielder because of his weak defending abilities and Jan Vertonghen took over the position. The player, himself, publicity said he does not want to return to the left–back position. Emanuelson then scored two goals in two matches between 24 February 2008 and 2 March 2008 against NAC Breda and SBV Excelsior. However, he eventually played in the left–back position against SC Heerenveen in play–offs for the UEFA Champions League spot, as Ajax won 5–2 on aggregate. In a follow–up match against Twente, Emanuelson suffered ankle injury that saw him substituted in the 66th minute, as the club lost 2–1. As a result, Ajax lost their chance to qualify for the UEFA Champions League following a 0–0 draw in the return leg. At the end of the 2007–08 season, he went on to make forty–one appearances and scoring three times in all competitions.
At the start of the 2008–09 season, Emanuelson started in the first three matches, playing once in the centre–midfield position and twice in the left–back position before missing two matches due to illness. He returned to the starting line–up against SC Heerenveen on 5 October 2008, and played the whole game, as Ajax lost 5–2. Emanuelson then contributed five assists for the club by the end of the year. On 21 December 2008 he scored his first goal of the season, in a 6–0 win against De Graafschap. By November, Emanuelson began playing in different midfield positions for Ajax. But at one point, he did play in the left–back position against NEC Nijmegen on 18 January 2009, as the club won 4–2. His second goal of the season came on 15 February 2009, in a 2–0 win against rival, Feyenoord. After missing one match due to a stiff neck Emanuelson sustained during a UEFA Cup third round first leg against Fiorentina and set up the only goal of the game in a 1–0 win, he returned to the starting line–up in the return leg against them and helped the side go through to the next round following a 1–1 draw. By March, Emanuelson then publicly criticised Manager Marco van Basten for his substitution policy after he was substituted five times in the last eight league matches. Emanuelson then scored his third goal of the season, in a 7–0 win against Willem II on 12 April 2009. During a 6–2 loss against PSV Eindhoven in a follow–up, he suffered a suspected ankle injury that saw him substituted in the 38th minute. But Emanuelson was given all clear after the medical team said his injury was not bad as first thought. Despite suffering another injury later in the 2008–09 season, he continued to remain involve in the last remaining matches and scored his fifth goal of the season, in a 1–0 win against FC Twente in the last game of the season. Following this, Emanuelson went on to make forty–two appearances and scoring four times in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2009–10 season, Emanuelson was linked with a move to Bayern Munich to link up with Manager Louis van Gaal but he made it clear that he wanted to stay at Ajax. At the start of the 2009–10 season, Emanuelson continued to regain his first team place, playing in different midfield positions. Having publicly refused to play in the left–back position prior to the start of the season, he eventually played in the position following the fitness of Timothée Atouba. On 16 August 2009 Emanuelson scored his first goal of the season, in a 4–3 loss against PSV Eindhoven. He played in both legs of the UEFA Europa League Play-off round against Slovan Bratislava, as the club won 7–1 on aggregate. However, Emanuelson received a straight red card in the 81st minute for a tackle, in a 2–2 draw against Roda JC on 4 October 2009. After serving a one match suspension, he returned to the starting line–up against AZ Alkmaar on 25 October 2009 and scored his second goal of the season, in a 4–2 win. This was followed by scoring twice against FC Dordrecht and once against Feyenoord. His sixth goal of the season came on 17 December 2009 in the UEFA Europa League match against Anderlecht, as Ajax lost 3–1. On 4 January 2010, his contract talks with the club was broken down. Emanuelson said it would have been a disappointment to leave the club on a free transfer just two months prior to the contract broken down. Amid to the contract, he later scored two more goals later in the 2009–10 season against PSV Eindhoven and VVV-Venlo. In the last game of the season against NEC Nijmegen, Emanuelson set up two goals, as Ajax won 4–1 to finish second place after finishing behind FC Twente, who won the league title. He started in the 2009–10 Dutch Cup final against rivals, Feyenoord, and set up the second goal of the game for Siem de Jong, who scored twice to help the club to make it 2–0 in the first leg. In the return leg, Emanuelson helped Ajax beat Feyenoord, 4–1, winning the KNVB Cup for the third time in his career. Shortly after the end of the match, Emanuelson made it clear to reporters that he wanted to stay at the club following reports of him being linked to PSV Eindhoven. Despite being absent on two more occasions later in the 2009–10 season, Emanuelson went on to make forty–eight appearances and scoring eight times in all competitions, a target he successfully predicted.
Emanuelson made his first appearance of the 2010–11 season, starting the whole game, as Ajax lost 1–0 against Twente in the Johan Cruyff Shield. He then helped the club reach the Group-Stage of the Champions League after beating PAOK Salonika and Dynamo Kiev. Shortly after, Emanuelson scored his first goal of the season, in a 5–0 win against De Graafschap. His second goal of the season came on 22 September 2010, in a 5–0 win against MVV Maastricht. Since the start of the 2010–11 season, he continued to regain his first team place, rotating in the left–back position and different midfield positions. As a result, the club began a contract negotiation with Emanuelson over a new contract, though he later stated his guarantee of not staying at the club. However, it was announced on 3 November 2010 that Emanuelson would leave Ajax at the end of the 2010–11 season. He later confirmed the news two days later. Despite announcing his departure and facing his own injury concern along the way, he remain involved in the club's first team until his departure in January. Emanuelson made thirty–two appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.