Nigel De Jong

After 6 years spent with Manchester City, Gael Clichy’s relationship with the English Premier League club has reached it’s end and the French defender has initiated a new challenge after signing a season long deal with the Turkish outfit İstanbul Başakşehir.

Before Gael Clichy had completed his transfer to İstanbul Başakşehir, it was rumored that a possible transfer to Galatasaray was in the works but a transfer could never be completed and Nigel de Jong was believed to be one of the factors that interfered.

A few years ago, Gael Clichy and Nigel de Jong used to play alongside each other.

Reports and rumors are suggesting that Nigel de Jong told Clichy to not join Galatasaray as it’s a club that has had issues in the past with late wage payments and things of this nature.

However, the 32 year old Dutch midfielder has emerged and denied all of those reports as Nigel de Jong said that all of those rumors are false.

“Normally I don’t react to nonsense stories, but spreading lies behind my back I can’t accept. Would love to play together again with this guy at Galatasaray and told him what kind of impact the club and fans have in Turkey”

“Asking for an opinion or advice doesn’t mean I’m responsible for his decision. He’s a grown man and doesn’t need any help deciding his next step in his career. Believe whatever you want to believe but get your facts straight before mentioning my name.” Galatasaray’s Nigel de Jong wrote on his instagram account.

Nigel de Jong joined Galatasaray back on August of 2016 and ever since then, he went on to make regular appearances for the Turkish outfit and helped İstanbul Başakşehir in securing the 2nd spot of the Süper Lig.

The 32 year old Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong is currently performing for Galatasaray after having penned a 2 year long deal with the Turkish club in a deal that was completed on August 31 of 2016.

Nigel de Jong started off his career on Galatasaray in a fairly positive manner as he was a regular first-team player but the Dutch player has been seeing more time on the sidelines as a substitute performer.

There are rumors going on claiming that the Sporting Director of Ajax, Marc Overmars is thinking about securing the services of Nigel de Jong and adding him back to Ajax which is the club that the Dutch performer used to play with during his youth.

Starting from 2002 until 2006, Nigel de Jong performed for Ajax as it was the 1st top club that he performed in. At the age of 18, the Dutch player was named as the AFC Ajax Player of the Year which is extremely impressive for someone so young and during the season of 2003-04, he helped Ajax in lifting the Eredivisie title as he made over 20 appearances and played a big role.

It was with Ajax where Nigel de Jong managed to develop himself as a player for the 1st time.

There is no doubt that Ajax has had a huge influence in the career of Nigel de Jong and taking into consideration the fact that the defensively aggressive midfielder is 32 years old, his playing career is reaching the final stages, is there a better way for him to spend the last seasons of his career than by performing with the club that helped his career kickoff?

The recent drop to the sidelines is another important reason of why Nigel de Jong could decide to make an early exit from Galatasaray and join Ajax or any other club.