The first: where and when did the newly crowned jubilarian make his debut again?
Mika Godts signed his first Ajax contract on 31 January 2023. The then seventeen-year-old Belgian arrived from KRC Genk and started out with Jong Ajax. An official debut for the first team did not take long to follow. On 9 April 2023 it was already time; the home match against Fortuna Sittard (4–0) provided the stage on which Godts was able to show himself to the wider public.
The debutant, wearing shirt number 39, came on in the closing minutes to replace captain Dusan Tadic. Godts would wear that shirt number until the end of September 2024. Since then, the now twenty-year-old Belgian has been the regular wearer of shirt number eleven.
How often was Godts a starter and with which (then) fellow Ajax players did he most frequently appear at kick-off?
Mika Godts started in 67 of his 99 matches for Ajax across all competitions. With these five team-mates, he most frequently appeared in the starting line-up:
Kenneth Taylor - 48 times
Youri Baas - 47 times
Josip Šutalo - 43 times
Jorrel Hato - 36 times
Davy Klaassen + Anton Gaaei – 34 times
How did the Belgian Ajax player distribute his matches?
In Zwolle, Godts plays his 68th match in the Eredivisie. The Belgian has scored seventeen times in the league to date. In his five cup matches, he has yet to find the net. Even after eight appearances in the UEFA Champions League, Godts is still without a goal. By contrast, the winger scored four times in the nineteen matches in which he featured in the UEFA Europa League (including qualification).
Godts scored just over half (12) of his 21 goals at the familiar Johan Cruijff ArenA.
Under which head coach did he play the most matches (and was he most successful)?
Godts played by far the most matches in Amsterdam colours under coach Francesco Farioli: 47 of the 100 (in all competitions). Under the Italian, the defender left the pitch as a winner on 30 occasions. That amounts to a win percentage of 63.8 per cent.
Godts played his remaining matches under the (interim) coaches: Fred Grim (20), John Heitinga (17), John van ’t Schip (11), Maurice Steijn (3) and Hedwiges Maduro (2).
Godts has been particularly productive under Grim, with fifteen goals and assists up to this Matchday in nineteen matches (up to PEC) across all competitions. It is no coincidence that, with all his goals and assists, Godts is the most valuable player in the Eredivisie this season.
How valuable has the Flemish winger been with his goals and assists since his debut?
Godts has so far given Ajax fans reason to celebrate 21 times with goals bearing his signature. In addition, the Belgian has provided nineteen assists. The Leuven-born player is therefore extremely valuable. Since he made his Ajax debut on 9 April 2023, only Brian Brobbey (47) and Kenneth Taylor (44) have been involved in more goals for Ajax than the Belgian (40 - 21 goals and 19 assists).
That he is in excellent form this season is also demonstrated by the following fine fact. Godts is one of four players with at least fifty successful dribbles (55), fifty chances created from open play (53) and at least ten goals (13) in the ten European top leagues this season, alongside Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappé and Luis Díaz.
