I just wanted to make note that Ajax defender Jaap Stam has retired from the game with immediate effect. Stam cited injury problems as the reason, although he also said that he had considered retiring at the start of the season.

Stam was the finest defender that I ever saw - though I don't mind admitting I wasn't around to watch the Moores, Beckenbauers, or even the Baresis, at their peak.

He was immensely dominant in the air and on the ground, remarkably strong, amazingly quick for a big man - it is said that in the late 90s, the only player in the Dutch squad quicker than he was Marc Overmars - and could get the ball down and play, too, though he often left that to others.

He was a part of the Manchester United treble-winning side in 1999, and when he was sold to Lazio by Sir Alex Ferguson after failing to impress upon return from lengthy injury, David O'Leary was not the only manager to suggest that it was "the most baffling transfer I've ever come across".

Proving Ferguson wrong - something it took the Scotsman until this year to publicly admit - Stam went on to have several excellent seasons in Italy with Lazio and Milan, though he was banned for four months after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone, a charge which he vehemently denied.

Stam returned to Holland in 2006, with Ajax, though he had been expected to rejoin his old side, PSV Eindhoven.

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