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Huntelaar: times are tough right now…

October 8th, 2009 | By: Jan | 13 Comments »

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar left Real Madrid for AC Milan because he wanted to play. Until now, he never played longer than 64 minutes and is still waiting for his first competition goal. And as if that isn’t annoying enough, it seems Kuyt took his spot in Oranje.

Times were easier for the Hunter once… Duromng the first training of Oranje in Sydney, you could easily tell. The other players highly enjoyed the wonderful Olympic sports complex in the sun, the 26 year old reluctantly walked over the pitch.

He didn’t mind talking to the media, but he didn’t want to talk about AC Milan. “If I’m not mistaken, we’re with Oranje now,” he repeated five times in ten minutes. “I’m in a tough place right now. I can’t find the flow, but that applies to AC Milan as a whole too.”

Huntelaar picked AC Milan because that club would fit him best. That’s the feeling he got after talking to Leonardo. During his presentation he said: “I have all the signals that it all will be good here for me.”

But, after disappointing games, the question is whether Huntelaar did take the right decision. AC Milan is ninth in the Serie A. There’s no money for reinforcements and big boss Berlusconi said: “This AC Milan is a disaster!”.

Huntelaar expected to start and play, but Leonardo hardly ever gives him more than 50 minutes. In the CL games, he only played 3 minutes! “It’s different in Italy,” the Oranje striker said, who has to compete with Pato, Inzaghi, Ronaldinho and Boriello. “But it will come good. But come on, let’s talk Oranje now.”

Team manager Bert van Marwijk started with Huntelaar as his center striker, but in the last five internationals, Kuyt started as center striker. Huntelaar doesn’t really know why. He scored 14 times in 26 games. “I didn’t play a lot in Madrid, and I think that’s why I ended up on the bench, I guess.”

Huntelaar is a different player than Kuyt, who creates lots of space for midfielders Van Persie, Robben, Sneijder or Van der Vaart. “Nah, I think it’s the lack of playing time in Madrid,” Hunter insists, who does have a chance to start now Robben and Van Persie aren’t part of the group.

Kuyt could be moved back to the right flank. “Yeah, that’s an option. We’ll see. I don’t know what Van Marwijk wants to do.”

Last Thursday, Kuyt, Loovens and Sneijder didn’t train with the group. Kuyt is slightly injured at his ankle, Loovens has a calf injury and Sneijder had a bit of fever after the trip.

Tags: AC Milan, Group C, Huntelaar, Kuyt, Oranje, Robben, van Persie

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Comments | Add your comment

By Agragami | October 8th, 2009 at 6:28 am

@ Jan: we all share Finn’s frustrations… not being able to make a bit out of our most favourite team’s official website is agonising…but now that you have developed some good contacts within the press PR personnel of KNVB, you can put forth the case and the cause to them…You should put all your persuasion skills to optimal use on Anja and Monique first… If they see reason they can act as our intermediaries in making the KNVB honchos realise that there is a whole world out there beyond the boundaries of Holland that loves and adores Dutch football…Dutch language, no doubt should come first, but a section in English should be included…

Posted from India

By Mohamed | October 8th, 2009 at 12:43 pm

No doubt finn is right , it is very disappointing to see for example AFA website ( the argentine football fedration ) having an english web page , and the knvb don’t !! Netherlands have one of the largest foreign fan base in the world , i can guess that henk kessler thinks that if you want to support holland , so you have to learn dutch first !!

By Mohamed | October 8th, 2009 at 12:55 pm

I really feel sorry for huntelaar , and as i said before .. I started to doubt his ability to play for big teams , or to be more accurate , against big teams . I know that milan’s midfield is bad , but someone tells me ,how inzaghi scored 4 goals , pato 3 goals ?!! (though inzaghi is too old and he is also a box player only , who just waits for the ball in the box !) , i think we have to admit , there is something wrong about huntelaar

By EJB | October 8th, 2009 at 1:26 pm

he’s just keeping the spot warm for RVN’s return

Posted from United States

By Carlos | October 8th, 2009 at 4:51 pm

Mohamed – No one in Holland expects outsiders to learn Dutch ! Its too difficult. EVERYONE in Holland speaks English from the age of 10/12. This is again one of those beaurocratic nonsense decision certain type of people seem to excel in.

By Carlos | October 8th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

Bouma played 90 minutes for Villa Reserves and afterwards declares he feels “Fantastic”.

By Michel-Olivier | October 8th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

thanks to jan netherlands blog i don’t need ‘www.onsoranje.nl’. it’s difficult for me to learn dutch and other germanic languages, it took me about 10-12 years to learn proper english. but if i have kids with a dutch woman, they will speak dutch as first language and french second.

Posted from United States

By sonneveld | October 8th, 2009 at 5:08 pm

hedwiges maduro has announced he wants to play at the world cup and may move in january

By Jan | October 8th, 2009 at 5:15 pm

Hi all, the KNVB saga is a long one already. For the newcomers: I’ve contact Monique and Anja years ago already and they were and still are extremely important of our endeavors and they have helped me move up into the organization and exchange emails with the “powers that be”.

That resulted in promises. Which were broken. Deadlines missed. Other priorities coming up. Etc etc. At some point I quit, because I sounded like one of those broken records.

I hope to meet with the KNVB on Saturday in Sydney and get the latest on what’s happening.

By Mohamed | October 8th, 2009 at 5:15 pm

@carlos , i am just kiddin’ !
btw , i can speak french (my french is better than my english actually ) and little deustch , think dutch and deustch have many things in common !

By Mista Ken | October 9th, 2009 at 2:40 am

The Hunter should have gone to Arsenal. That team is made for him

Posted from United Kingdom

By Rob | October 9th, 2009 at 8:01 pm

I’d really like to learn Dutch but I’d imagine it’s a pain in the arse to get materials or classes. I find it hard enough learning Japanese.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Rob | October 9th, 2009 at 8:09 pm

Oh, and Huntelaar’s real problem is that he’s been plagued by garbage coaches. First Ramos at Real, then Leonardo at AC – clearly jokers. The thing is, Hunter’s not the kind of guy who’s going to set the training field alight with his skills, but he needs to be given a chance in the matches.

Posted from United Kingdom