Ajax extends contracts for Maxwell, Trabelsi
Posted: Wednesday February 11, 2004 7:03PM;
Updated: Wednesday February 11, 2004 7:02PM
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- Ajax Amsterdam has extended the contracts of two of its top defenders, Brazil's Maxwell and Tunisia's Hatem Trabelsi, for an additional two years, the club said Wednesday.
Trabelsi, 27, said earlier this month he would finish the current season with Ajax but hoped then to transfer a major club in England or Italy -- preferably Chelsea.
Maxwell is a star on the Brazilian Olympic team, and Trabelsi has been a standout for Tunisia in the African Cup of Nations, now facing Nigeria in the semifinals.
Both players signed three-year contracts with Ajax in the summer of 2001, with an option for an additional two years that Ajax is now exercising.
Also Wednesday, U.S. international defender John O'Brien said he was willing to stay with Ajax if his contract was extended.
"My contract runs until the end of the season," O'Brien said in an open interview with his fans on the club's Web site. "I'm open to having it extended, but I'm not real worried about it because I don't get the idea they want to get rid of me."
O'Brien said last year he hoped for a transfer to another top European club. He spent the first half of this season sidelined with a tendon injury but is back in Ajax's starting lineup and may play in the Feb. 18 friendly against the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Ajax also denied reports that South African midfielder Steen Pienaar's injury may keep him out for up to a year.
The club said that Pienaar had suffered damage to a nerve in his knee due to it being iced too long, but a spokeswoman said Ajax expects he will be fit "within a few weeks."