Newcastle United goalkeeper Tim Krul has joined Ajax on a season-long loan following Jasper Cillessen s move to Barcelona.
Krul has also signed a one-year contract extension at St James Park that will keep him on the club s books until 2018.
The loss of Cillessen to Barca left Ajax needing to quickly fill their number-one jersey, and Krul who moved to Tyneside from ADO Den Haag in 2005 is relishing the challenge after being relegated with Newcastle at the end of last season.
I don t think many clubs are equivalent to Newcastle. Ajax is in that category, he told the Eredivisie outfit s official website.
Ajax is a club with many talents and I look forward to passing on the experience I have accumulated over the past decade.
When I got the text from [director of football] Marc Overmars I was very grateful. Ajax is a great club.
I think it s always good to play with the national team at the Amsterdam ArenA. That I will play here soon with Ajax is just fantastic.
Krul has been sidelined since October with a knee ligament injury, but is feeling positive about his recovery.
It s going well, he added. I m currently working on the pitch with the goalkeeping coach and then I will slowly join the group. We will look at it every day.
I should probably play a few games with the second team because match practice is different to training.
Krul famously replaced Cillessen in the last minute of extra-time during Netherlands 2014 World Cup quarter-final against Costa Rica.
The 28-year-old justified Louis van Gaal s call by saving two penalties as the Dutch went through in the shoot-out.