A product of local club Ajax's prolific youth ranks under Johan Cruyff, he first appeared in the Eredivisie on 26 October 1986 at the age of 17, and scored his first league goal approximately a year later.

[6] He faced intense competition for playing time as the three allotted slots for foreign players were usually taken up by Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov and his compatriot Ronald Koeman, and an injury ruled him out of the 1992 European Cup Final.

[7] Witschge's frustration with this state of affairs at the Camp Nou led him to take a substantial pay cut in joining Bordeaux for 18 million francs in 1993.

[8] Witschge moved to Blackburn Rovers on loan just ahead of the transfer deadline in March 1995, featuring against West Ham United, as his team won the Premier League title.

He had been intended as a replacement for injured left winger Jason Wilcox, but manager Kenny Dalglish preferred the more conservative option of pushing left-back Graeme Le Saux forward, bringing Jeff Kenna into the defence.

[8] In May 1996, Witschge agreed a return to Ajax, who wanted his experience to bolster the team which had begun to break up in the aftermath of their 1995 European Cup win.

After falling into dispute with veteran coach Co Adriaanse, who preferred the younger Rafael van der Vaart in his role, he was loaned to Spanish top-flight side Alavés for the 2001–02 season.

As he subsequently dropped out of contention there was a perception that he had failed to fulfill his early talent, with Beenhakker attributing laziness and immaturity when he bracketed the player alongside contemporaries including Bryan Roy in the 'Patat Generatie' (English: French Fries Generation), the implication being that they ate junk food instead of focusing on improvement.