AMSTERDAM (AP) — Maximilian Ibrahimović is moving from one club his father used to play for, and going to another.
The 19-year-old winger, the son of soccer great Zlatan Ibrahimović, joined Ajax on loan from AC Milan on Wednesday.
“It’s cool that he also played for Ajax. I am happy that I have the opportunity to play here also and to develop," Maximilian Ibrahimović said.
“I want to write my own story. I am my own person, my own player, I am here to do my own thing. And I am really looking forward to that.”
Zlatan Ibrahimović currently serves as senior adviser to Milan’s American owners — acting as the key link between them and the club’s sporting operations, including player development — and would have had a significant part in his son’s move.
Italian media reports said Ajax has paid Milan 3.5 million euros ($4 million) for the loan until the end of the season, when the Dutch club will have the option to make the deal permanent.
“We are very pleased with the arrival of Maximilian," said Marijn Beuker, Ajax's director of football. "He is a talented forward with a good sense of positioning in and around the penalty area, and he has strong goal-oriented finishing.
"He is skillful with his dribbling and, above all, has a great winner’s mentality and training attitude.”
The Swede has progressed through the youth teams at Milan but has never played for the senior team, although he was part of the squad that traveled to Saudi Arabia for the Italian Super Cup last month.
He has scored five goals in 16 matches for Milan Futuro this season.
“He will initially mainly get his playing minutes with Ajax U23 and will regularly move between Ajax U23 and the first team during the season, so that he can get used to the higher level and the intensity of Ajax 1," Beuker said.
"Maximilian is a player with a lot of potential, and we hope that in time he can become a permanent part of Ajax 1’s attack.”
Zlatan Ibrahimović played for Ajax from 2001-2005, netting 48 goals in 110 appearances and winning the Dutch league twice as well as the KNVB Cup.
The talismanic forward scored 93 goals in 163 appearances over two spells at Milan, winning two Serie A titles and the Italian Super Cup.
"Ibrahimović is just a name. I am just Maximilian," the younger Ibrahimović said. “If I cared about my name then it would be all wrong, it wouldn’t even be fun to play if I would always compare myself. I don’t even think I look like him.”
Zlatan's other son, the 17-year-old Vincent Ibrahimović, recently signed his first professional contract with Milan.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Sweden's striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Ajax Amsterdam celebrates after he scored his and his team's second goal against Olympique Lyonnaise during their Champions League match in Amsterdam Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2002. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic, file)
FILE - Former soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic stands before the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Juventus and Milan in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, file)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African soldiers deployed to high-crime areas have dismantled illegal gold mining operations in a community near Johannesburg, forcing some illegal miners to flee and abandon their equipment.
Police and the army recovered various tools used by illegal miners, including generators and drill machines — equipment documented by an Associated Press photographer on Thursday.
Makeshift trenches with food supplies and utensils belonging to the miners were also dismantled, with clothing items left behind after the miners fled the site in Randfontein, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) to the west of Johannesburg.
The operations were part of a rare move by the government to deploy soldiers in some of the country's most crime-ridden areas, including in the Western Cape province that includes the city of Cape Town and the economic hub province of Gauteng.
With dozens of abandoned mine shafts lining the outskirts of Johannesburg, illegal mining is rife in the area as heavily armed crime syndicates and informal miners known as “zama zamas” enter the shafts in search of leftover deposits of gold or other precious minerals.
It is illegal to mine without a government license, and in some places, the conditions are dangerous.
Other provinces with abandoned shafts, like the North West and Mpumalanga, have also experienced high levels of illegal mining, sometimes with tragic consequences.
Authorities say there are an estimated 30,000 illegal miners in South Africa, operating in some of its 6,000 abandoned mine shafts.
The government has noted an increase in illegal mining, which it estimates is worth more than $4 billion a year just in gold lost to criminal syndicates.
The trade is believed to be predominantly controlled by migrants from neighboring Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, stoking anger among South African communities against both the criminal bosses and foreigners living in the local community.
Responding to questions from lawmakers on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the deployment of the troops would take place alongside other measures, such as strengthening anti-gang units and illegal mining task teams.
“The police will also be working with the National Prosecuting Authority on multi-disciplinary task teams to target the leadership, finances, firearms and logistics of these criminal networks,” Ramaphosa said.
South African National Defense Force soldiers recover a generator left behind by illegal miners, during a patrol in Randfontein, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
A South African National Defense Force soldier patrols in a dense bush where illegal miners are operating, in Randfontein, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South African National Defense Force soldiers retrieve clothing and food stock left by illegal miners, in Randfontein, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South African National Defense Force soldiers and police officers cross a water stream used by illegal miners, during a patrol in Randfontein, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South African National Defense Force soldiers and police officers load recovered generators and machinery left behind by illegal miners, during a patrol in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
