Johan Cruyff: facts support my vision!

The class of 2007….

The clash between Liverpool and Real Madrid could have been a confrontation between Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Royston Drenthe for the Spanish side and Ryan Babel, the Liverpudlian. Players who won the European Title with Young Oranje in 2007. The first one will be at home, because his coach preferred a destroyer over a goal machine. The other two warm the bench or the stands and will doubt the choices they made. And they’re not the only ones. Johan Cruyff is worried…

In his weekly column for Telesport, Johan Cruyff warned the current Dutch talents. The summer transfer window approaches and it’s time to make decisions. According to the Best Player Ever, this is a subtle process, inwhich many players get it wrong. Of the 23 players winning the title with Oranje in 2007, there were 20 players who earned a transfer. Only Gianni Zuiverloon, Arnold Kruiswijk and Roy Beerens are regulars for their current clubs.

The others struggle to reach the higher level or saw their career choices fail terribly. A sad observation.
Cruyff: “You need to select the club that fits your playing style. That’s essential. And than you look at the monetary side of the deal.”

One player who should look into the mirror is Maceo Rigters (25 years old). He was Oranje’s top goalscorer in 2007 and signed a four-year deal with Blackburn Rovers. Today, he warms the bench of Barnley, the number 21 in the Englisch Championship.

And there’s more sad stories. Luigi Bruins (Feyenoord), Otman Bakkal (PSV), Haris Medunjanin (?) and Drenthe and Babel can conclude that their career choices didn’t pay off. Yet? They’ve all grown as players, but they haven’t been able to secure starting positions. Their development will stall if that doesn’t change.

JC made an ok choice…

Oranje team manager Bert van Marwijk: “Johan is right and the facts support his vision. Dutch football would benefit from the 6+5 ruling. You basically oblige clubs to play self-developed players and these talents will stay longer with their club and will make the leap when they’re more developed. The chance for these players to make better choices is higher and all concerned will benefit, as will Oranje. At the same time, we’ll need to closely monitor the players’ salaries because it’s totally understandable that a young player will sign for a big club when they make him an offer he can’t refuse…”

The comparison with the U21 group that won the Title in Portugal in 2006 demonstrates that all is not lost. Stijn Schaars, Demy de Zeeuw (both AZ), Urby Emanuelson (Ajax), Michel Vorm (FC Utrecht) and Paul Verhaegh (Vitesse) were all able to sign deals with bigger clubs, but they couldn’t be bothered and stayed with their clubs.
Those who did move, had good reasons. Huntelaar was ready for his step to Madrid, Braafheid made a good jump from Utrecht to Twente and Romeo Castelen – from Feyenoord to HSV – could also use some more resistance.

Bert van Marwijk is clearly more impressed with the 2006 group. Huntelaar, De Zeeuw, Schaars, Braafheid and Vorm are all part of the current selection, with only one player (Babel) from the 2007 group. “When you look at it like that, you can say that the current talents haven’t been lucky with their choices, true… But then again, Robin van Persie left Feyenoord very early and definitely not ready for the big jump, but look at how he developed…”