Johan Cruyff returning to Ajax as advisor

Johan Cruyff is returning to his original club Ajax in a bid to help the fading power recreate its former glory.

Ajax said late Thursday that Cruyff had agreed to become a member of a ''sounding board group'' to advise the club on technical issues.

Cruyff will be returning to the club that discovered him as a teenager in the 1960s kicking a ball around the Amsterdam streets close to Ajax's former stadium and nurtured him to become arguably the greatest player of his generation.

The mercurial midfielder last worked at Ajax as coach, leaving in 1988.