Ajax, the breeding ground of football's young talents.

AFC Ajax have been a selling club for many years now, and with Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt constantly being linked with a move away to some of Europe's giant clubs, this trend of buying players from the Dutch club does not seem to be ending any time soon.

De Jong is being heavily linked with a move to either Manchester City or Barcelona, whilst his teammate, de Ligt, has been linked to Barcelona, Juventus and Manchester United ever since the start of the season. Both of these youngsters have impressed greatly, and with de Jong and de Ligt still being 21-years-old and 18-years-old respectively, there is still plenty of time for both of them to develop even further.

De Jong, who is an artist on the ball, has shone both at club level and for the Netherlands, dictating play whilst also breaking down the opposition's attacks. De Jong's strong performances this season have led to him being compared to Dutch great Johan Cruyff, a comparison to be proud of.

On the other hand, de Ligt is a commanding defender that can play across the defence, with his outstanding displays leading to him being nominated for the Golden Boy award, that is given to Europe's best player that is under 21-years-old. He has also been awarded with the captain's armband at the club. The defender has also received praise from Edwin van der Sar, who is currently Ajax's CEO, who described him as "very mature for his age", and that "He looks like he has been doing this for six or seven years", when he is still only 18-years-old.

However, even though Ajax will earn a great deal of money if they decide to offload the duo, they will still feel that there is a sense of Déjà vu. The club has one of the best, if not the best academies in the world, constantly developing some of Europe's best talents.

Some of the names that come to mind are Johan Cruyff, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank de Boer, Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten and Edwin van der Sar, who all went on to leave the club and have thrilling careers elsewhere.

Whilst such names helped the club in the past, such as the UEFA Champions League triumph in 1994-95, them offloading their stars in recent years has led to their decline, and the decline of Dutch football in general. Christian Eriksen, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wesley Sneijder, Jan Vertonghen and Luis Suarez are all players that probably left the club too early. This has led to the team not transitioning well and not managing to fulfil certain gaps that those stars might have left.

However, with Dutch football being on the rise once again as the national team has progressed to the finals of the UEFA Nations League, as well as with Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and other Dutch teams becoming stronger and stronger, several players might become more interested in staying at the club and helping the team to win more and more titles as the seasons progress.

What is for certain is that Ajax is capable of producing some of the best stars in world football, with most of their young stars capable of playing anywhere in any club in Europe.