rotated in the midfield position on two occasions. On 22 January 2006 he came on as an 82nd-minute substitute and scored his first Ajax goal, which turned out to be the winning goal, in a 3–2 win. Two weeks later on 2 February 2006, Emanuelson scored his second goal for the club, in a 3–0 win against SC Heerenveen in the quarter–finals of the KNVB Beker. By March, however, he suffered a muscle injury that expected him to be sidelined for the rest of the 2005–06 season. Following a transfer speculation reporting that Palermo wanted sign to Emanuelson, he signed a contract extension with Ajax, keeping him until 2011, ending the transfer speculation. On 16 April 2006 Emanuelson returned to the starting line–up in the last game of the season, in a 4–2 win against RKC Waalwijk. He played four times in the newly born Eredivisie play-offs after finishing in the fifth position in the regular competition. In the play-offs, they defeated Feyenoord but lost to FC Groningen in the club's unsuccessful attempt to claim a spot in the Champions League preliminaries for the following season. In the final of the KNVB Cup against PSV Eindhoven, he started in the left–back position with Ajax and helped the side win 2–1. As a result, his efforts resulted in him being named "Amsterdam talent of the year 2006" alongside Thomas Vermaelen. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Emanuelson made forty–one appearances and scoring two times in all competitions. At the start of the 2006–07 season, Emanuelson played the whole game, as Ajax beat PSV Eindhoven 3–1 to win the Johan Cruyff Shield. He quickly regained his first team place, rotating in the left–back position and midfield positions. However, Emanuelson played in both legs of the third round of the UEFA Champions League against Copenhagen, as the club were eliminated following a 4–1 defeat on aggregate. On 14 October 2006 he scored his first goal for Ajax, in a 3–2 win against FC Groningen. This was followed up by helping the club keeping three out of the four consecutive clean sheets, in which Emanuelson played in the left–back position. In a match against Sparta Prague, Emanuelson was sent–off for a second bookable offence, as they drew 0–0. Despite this, he then scored his second goal of the season, in a 6–0 win against Willem II on 3 December 2006. By the end