| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kenneth Pérez Dahl Jensen | ||
| Date of birth | August 29, 1974 | ||
| Place of birth | Copenhagen, Denmark | ||
| Playing position | Attacking midfielder/Striker (retired) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1993–1995 | Akademisk Boldklub | 36 | (7) |
| 1995–1997 | F.C. Copenhagen | 30 | (3) |
| 1997–2000 | MVV | 47 | (16) |
| 2000–2006 | AZ | 178 | (60) |
| 2006–2007 | Ajax | 27 | (12) |
| 2007–2008 | PSV | 14 | (8) |
| 2008 | Ajax | 16 | (7) |
| 2008–2010 | Twente | 57 | (11) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2003–2008 | Denmark | 24 | (2) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 September 2009. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Kenneth Pérez Dahl Jensen (born 29 August 1974) is a Danish former professional football player. Perez scored two goals in 24 matches for the Danish national team from 2003 to 2006, and he was chosen to compete at the 2004 European Championship.
Perez's mother is from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.[1]
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Perez started his career for Danish club Akademisk Boldklub, where he reached the 1995 Danish Cup final. The final was lost to F.C. Copenhagen, with whom Perez signed a two-year contract in autumn that year. He played two years for F.C. Copenhagen, and Perez was a part of the team which won the 1997 Danish Cup. With months left of his contract, he moved abroad in August 1997, to play for Dutch Eredivisie side MVV. Perez scored goals frequently for MVV, and his dribbling ability was regarded as one of the best in the Eredivisie. With his contract nearing expiry, he looked to leave the club in winter 1999. Dutch clubs Roda JC and AZ wanted to buy Perez, and he eventually penned a 5½-year contract with AZ starting from January 2000.
He made his debut for the Danish national team under manager Morten Olsen in November 2003. He came on as a substitute to replace Dennis Rommedahl in the 3–2 victory against England. He was selected to represent Denmark at the 2004 European Championship, where he took part in one match, coming on as a substitute.
Often playing on the left wing, Perez was the most technical of AZ's prolific strike force during the 2004–05 season. He was AZ's top goal scorer in that season, as he fired 13 goals past opposition goalkeepers, and was the joint 9th best league goal scorer. The club finished in third place that season, and ended second in the 2005–06 season. After six and a half years at AZ, Perez transferred to rival Eredivisie side Ajax in the summer 2006. He subsequently ended his national team career to focus on playing for Ajax. Since his debut in November 2003, Perez played 19 national team matches, though he was either substituted on or off the pitch, and never played a full national team match.
He won the Dutch Super Cup trophy with Ajax, beating PSV 3–1 in August 2006. In December 2006, Perez admitted having used a racial slur against an assistant referee. He publicly apologized to the assistant referee and received a five-match ban and a €12,500 fine.
In July 2007, Perez signed with Ajax rivals PSV on a two-year deal.[2]
On 31 December 2007, it was announced Perez will make a shock return to Ajax with immediate effect. He signed a one-and-a-half-year deal with an option for another season. This transfer caused much uproar in the Netherlands and was criticized by both sets of fans. PSV fans were not happy with the fact that Perez, as one of the more influential players, was allowed to return to their arch rivals and thus strengthening their squad. Although Perez has the reputation of being a soloist and having a difficult character Ajax fans in majority did bit object the return of Perez but saw his return after just 5 months as the ultimate proof of incompetence of the Ajax board which is already under intense pressure to guide the club back to winning ways after years of bad results.
On 1 January 2008, Jan Reker, the technical director of PSV was forced to give an explanation. He stated that after Ajax failed to lure Ismail Aissati to Amsterdam, Perez requested PSV for a transfer back to Amsterdam. According to Reker, Perez cited two reasons. Commuting from his home in Noord-Holland to Eindhoven on a daily basis was felt to be a burden and the limited chances given to him by interim coach Jan Wouters after Ronald Koeman left.
These remarks were later dismissed by Perez and Martin van Geel, the technical director of Ajax. Perez stated it was in fact PSV who initiated the transfer by telling Perez he no longer had a future at the club after just four months. Ajax, on the other hand, was still looking for a replacement for star midfield player Wesley Sneijder who was sold to Real Madrid and saw Ten Cate leave for Chelsea last September thus paving the way for Perez to move back to Amsterdam. Van Geel added that Ajax only wanted to buy Aissati last summer and he had no part in this transfer.
Perez was relegated to the Ajax reserves in the summer of 2008 by new Ajax head coach Marco van Basten[3] He was released at the end of August.[4] and later on July was transferred to Steve McClaren's FC Twente.
In January 2010, Perez marked himself as the player with the second most assists and goals in Dutch football through the past decade. The only player above him was Dirk Kuyt.[5] On May 2, 2010, Perez won his first Eredivisie title, coincidentally also the first title of his club FC Twente, at the age of 35 years. It was his last match in a FC Twente jersey.
| Season | Club | Competition | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995–96 | Copenhagen | Danish Superliga | 7 | 0 |
| 1996–97 | Copenhagen | Danish Superliga | 22 | 3 |
| 1997–98 | MVV | Eredivisie | 12 | 2 |
| 1998–99 | MVV | Eredivisie | 22 | 8 |
| 1999–00 | MVV | Eredivisie | 13 | 6 |
| AZ Alkmaar | Eredivisie | 7 | 1 | |
| 2000–01 | AZ Alkmaar | Eredivisie | 7 | 0 |
| 2001–02 | AZ Alkmaar | Eredivisie | 28 | 6 |
| 2002–03 | AZ Alkmaar | Eredivisie | 29 | 11 |
| 2003–04 | AZ Alkmaar | Eredivisie | 32 | 10 |
| 2004–05 | AZ Alkmaar | Eredivisie | 30 | 13 |
| 2005–06 | AZ Alkmaar | Eredivisie | 31 | 10 |
| 2006–07 | Ajax | Eredivisie | 27 | 12 |
| 2007–08 | PSV | Eredivisie | 14 | 8 |
| Ajax | Eredivisie | 16 | 7 | |
| 2008–09 | Twente | Eredivisie | 26 | 6 |
| 2009–10 | Twente | Eredivisie | 31 | 5 |
| Total | 354 | 108 | ||
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