Nigel de Jong: in service of a Sheik

March 1st, 2009 | By: Jan | 30 Comments »

Nigel de Jong is honest: “I was never a fan of Manchester City… I mean, we all watched Man United, Liverpool… But I did like their jersey and club colors. And I was fascinated by the rivalry between United, the posh club, and City, the people’s club… They have a great reputation.”

De Jong knows that that is a somewhat romanticized image from yore… Man City is no longer the Moss Side club. The rough suburbs close to Maine Road Stadium are no longer part of the club’s universe.

The Citizens were the typical “folks” club, with poverty and criminality always close. A club relegating more than winning titles.

Today, Manchester City is the club of the big numbers. Of enormous riches. Since Sheik Mansour is in charge, as off september, the sky is the limit.

In January, City offered millions for Kaka, David Villa, Buffon and Thierry Henry. Coach Hughes would without a doubt find a way to use these players in his team.

But, none of these world stars would actually come. And money was not the issue.

Kaka chose football and stays in Milan. Robinho did come to England, for 40 million pounds and the young Brazilian didn’t even know what color shirt he’d wear on the pitch.

“Hmm…I was a tad sceptical myself,” says De Jong.” You hear the stories and you sort of get pictures in your head.”

But, a consistent long term strategy helped the Oranje midfielder make a decision.

“City is looking at a structural jump to the top of English football. It might take five years, who knows, but the course is set. There will always be sepsis when a club states this… Look at AZ, Chelsea and Hoffenheim.”

Sheik Mansour is said to be valued at 16 Billion euros. De Jong hasn’t met him yet, since the royal family of Abu Dhabi have more passions that football alone.

“I did meet his right hand man. It’s similar here to any other club, the owners or board members don’t just walk into the dressing room,” says De Jong.

“As a player, you don’t really know or care who’s the owner. Man City is a rich club, rich in money now, but rich in history and lore as well. It plays in the biggest and toughes competition in the world and I love it.”

His transfer fee, a humungous 20 million euros, started a discussion in Germany. Dieter Hoeness called it pervers and far from market conformity.

“I don’t care really. It’s not me deciding all this. It’s between the clubs.” All the euros being chucked around hasn’t resulted in…well…results. Yet.

“My role is guarding the balance as the holding midfielder, just like in Hamburg or Oranje. They signed me for that. I don’t they just went out shopping and picked the first player they saw…”

It did seem that way at first, with Zlatan’s name being mentioned, and Adriano’s and Jermaine Defoe. Dozens of players were linked to City.

In the winter break, City signed four players: De Jong, Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy and Shay Given. None of these players are the absolute top. “And they don’t have to be. We’re building a team here and I don’t think collecting big names like football cards would do it. Bellamy has shown his worth everywhere. Shay Given will collect points for us. And Wayne and myself can make any team stronger. The club wants to go step by step and comes across as highly professional to me.”

“It was a hard decision, though, leaving HSV, but I followed my heart. And the first matches were like a dream. The atmosphere, the pace, the intensity. I can highly enjoy English football. In Germany, people tend to be a tad more detached than here.”

But, he wouldn’t have made this step without HSV. De Jong confirms. “I have grown in Hamburg. I am very grateful for that. Saying goodbye was hard. It was very emotional, but it’s part of the nomad life you live. When I was at Ajax, things were safe. I knew the club, they knew me… It felt like a warm bath, but you can’t really push yourself. You need to leave your comfort zone and it worked for me, like it did for Rafael and Robin…”



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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 30 comments.

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Username By Jeroen | March 2nd, 2009 at 4:27 pm
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I would say that Schaars, de Jong, and van Bommel are of a higher level than Engelaar, and much higher than de Zeeuw and Maduro. However, van Bommel is a risk to have in any team because of his attitude. I am just not impressed by de Zeeuw at all so far. You don’t notice him on the field with Oranje, while de Jong is everywhere at once it seems. Schaars I am giving the benefit of the doubt, because I think the best has yet to come from this young man who is already quite good.

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

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Username By sonneveld | March 2nd, 2009 at 6:15 pm
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apparently van bommel is taller than oijer! maybe he could play in defense to make room for schaars.

If their was a Dutch League All Star team who do you think should be in it

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Username By Carlos | March 2nd, 2009 at 7:34 pm
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Sonneveld great clip..did you put the background music in ? Thats John Lee Hooker right? Nigel will be a cult hero among the light blue Mancunians I am sure….
OK we all seem to agree…drop vB one level back and bring in Schaars next to de Jong. Jan can you make the call to Bertje ?

Posted from Singapore Singapore

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Username By sonneveld | March 2nd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
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the funny thing is out team now has 5 players playing as midfielders and 2 defendres that are midfielders

kuyt

robben van der vaar sneijder

de jong de zeeuw

gio mathijsen van bommel de jong

stekelenburg

mathijsen and stekelenburg the only none midfielders in the team

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Username By Jan | March 2nd, 2009 at 7:56 pm
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two de jongs?

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Username By tiju | March 2nd, 2009 at 11:30 pm
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@sonneveld wat do you want to fuck dutch team in knockout stages,
Gio is so poor man,so huge gap in diffence
PLease the matches of us against portugal06,italy06,england05,the way kuyt fucked us was terrific,if you want include kuyt into the team take tim as rightback,holding mid or right winger,where is muchneeded schaars man?look at AZ with schaars and without schaars that will tell you the truth

Posted from India India

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Username By tiju | March 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 pm
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My fav will be
Vanpersie
Castelen-vaaart-Roban
Schaars-De jong
Bouma-Mathijenson-Heitinga?(no other choice looking a tall couargaeous diffender like douglas)-Marcelis
Stekelenburg
captain -schaars coz this guy has more real courage than van bommel
My super subs will be hunter,Babel,Znijder

Posted from India India

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Username By Mario | March 3rd, 2009 at 12:43 am
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Tiju, hava you seen Castelen playing in the last 6 months? Because I haven´t neither heard or read something good about him. I don´t know if he is injured and although I think he is a good player, he has not had a good impact at Hamburg or perhaps he is injured but now he is out of the window I think.

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Username By tiju | March 3rd, 2009 at 12:43 am
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@everybody
Plz try to see the games of us against italy 06 feb or march,portugal06wC,England05 and many other matches when kuyt played as a central striker.

Posted from India India

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Username By tiju | March 3rd, 2009 at 12:46 am
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@dear mario castelen played well for hamburg for 13 matches and he won the fans there along with rafa and dejong. after that he was unlucky and he never played a single game coz severe injury on knee,but now he started training and soon will be bcak on hamburg starting eleven.

Posted from India India

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Username By tiju | March 3rd, 2009 at 2:07 am
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match against italy,finland,england all these matches casteln was a constant threat to the opponent,he was highly rated player in all these matches,only the thing is he is bit small in size but speedy boy like roban with smae skills of roban.
the following quatrets will fearsome if they get chance togather with support of de jong and schaars.
——Hunter—–
Castelen-vanpersie–Roban

Or
——Vanpersie—–
Castelen—vaart–roban
Otherwise
——dutch kaka—-
dutch Ribery—dutch fabergas—Dutch Messy
with our top world class holding mids -dejong-schaars-vanbommel-mendes da silva

Posted from India India

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Username By Jan | March 3rd, 2009 at 3:01 am
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Tiju, we can use good wingers, but with Hunter, Kuyt, Van Persie, Robben, Afellay, Vaart etc I really think Castelen will need to prove himself first. Getting fit is one thing, getting match fit is a totally different ballgame. Good luck to him. Once he shines in Hamburg, he’ll be on the radar.

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Username By Alex | March 3rd, 2009 at 4:08 am
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Newsflash Boulahrouz getting more games now, and looking more confident and better for Stuttgart. Overall i’d say dutch defenders had a good weekend. I thought Heitinga played well, despit the 3 goals conceeded. Zuiverloon is playing a lot better again and i would hope he can really grow in PL next season. Donk did well too. Maduro regular now for Valencia, but on different places, did best as rightback though.
De Jong and V.Bommel are, based on performance, reputation and competition our two first options for holding midfield. BTW don’t underestimate De Zeeuw. Schaars and him really excell with AZ. Engelaar is good but, Schaars, De Zeeuw, Mendes da Silva and even Maduro have more potential left than him.

Think Boulah not in his best form yet. So I’d say
Heitinga-V.Bommel-Mathijsen-Bouma
would be the best backline at the moment. But we should thank god that we finally have a decent list of good defenders coming up with especially Braafheid, Marcellis, V.d.Wiel, Zuiverloon, Vlaar, Donk, Luirink and Loovens. And there’s even a decent list of possible talents just under that: J.Drost, Koenders, Kruiswijk, Verhaegh, Janmaat, Janse, Bruma, V.Aanholt, V.Eijden, Luijckx, Pieters, Tiendalli

Hope Gijs Luirink can make his return for AZ, i liked him a lot for oranje U-21 but constantly plagued by injuries. I’d like to see how this AZ squad holds up in CL too. I would love to have a dutch team impress again.
That would be a unbelievably crazy stunt, V.Gaal winning CL with AZ :)

Up front, Huntelaar, V.Persie, Kuyt and Robben do best right now on a high level as well, and that’s the only way we should judge dutch players. cause everyone here knows Sneijder, V.d.Vaart, Afellay, Babel, Castelen(him too), Elia, Beerens, Amrabat etc. are good attacking players as well.
Conclusion: the same as last time, with only Stekelenburg and Bouma(cause of his recent injurie and lack of rythm) questionable .

———–Stekelenburg/Vermeer
Heitinga-V.Bommel-Mathijsen-Braafheid/Bouma
———–De Jong-Schaars
Kuyt———-V.Persie———Robben
————-Huntelaar

Also possible to play somewhat different, but always with the possibility of Kuyt, V.Persie and Robben switching positions.

——–De Jong
Robben—V.Persie—-Schaars
——Kuyt-Huntelaar

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

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Username By tiju | March 3rd, 2009 at 4:23 am
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@jan i why i prefer castelen over ibiafalleey coz he wont dribble unnecessarily like afaleey and he is more a team player like kuyt,i think we need him badly,he is the dutch Ribery

Posted from India India

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Username By tiju | March 3rd, 2009 at 4:27 am
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@alex i think the ultimate message of your comment is you dont have trust in our old diffenders isnt it?
i would love to see Rovlaar-Gijs luirink conquers our central diffence like BIGWALLS IN china

Posted from India India

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Username By Carlos | March 3rd, 2009 at 5:46 am
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Alex – good round up mate ! Keep us informed – I am now also more impressed by de Zeeuw, however give me your views (and Goose). Demi is one of the holding mids at AZ, but time and again I see him going forward a la Sneijder and doing one touches with players as he moves upfield.
Is he now consider more of an attacking midfielder or is he still a defensive midfield. I compare his style similar to Tim Cahill of Everton. Your thoughts (and everyone else ?)

Posted from Singapore Singapore

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Username By Michel-Olivier | March 3rd, 2009 at 8:53 am
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@ tiju
romeo is gone :)

Posted from United States United States

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Username By Miguel Rosado | March 3rd, 2009 at 10:09 am
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Castelen had some very good games in 2006, I remember he played very well against England. He could be an interesting option for the right wing but he needs to play regularly with Hamburg because at the moment we have many players who can play in that position.

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Username By Jan | March 3rd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
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Thanks Alex! Good stuff man!!

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Username By Alex | March 3rd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
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@ tiju, I wouldn’t put it as black and white as you do.
I don’t trust Andre Ooijer, and Gio anymore and De Cler remains an average player. Now I do think Bouma is a much better defender than those, you can all laugh if you want, but I he would fit into some topteams just fine, Bouma is in my eyes at least equal or better than for example Heinze, O’Shea, Abidal, Boumsong, Grygera, Chiellini, Brown, Clichy, but already 30 years old.
Now Heitinga is 25 and has big potential, he started out very well partnerring with Ujfalusi, but then Atletico fans and spanish football fans saw him making a number of shaky performances, cause 3 penalties and conceede quite a number of goals with Atletico. And the new coach drew his conclusions from that, I hope he won’t turn into another Boulahrouz/Metzelder/Ben Haim who didn’t really get the time and opportunity to adjust/fit in comfortably and prove themselves with topclubs due to injuries and what not. Still think Boulahrouz in form is a very good defender, an Italian club would suit his style best I think.
And Mathijsen, is a good defender, but no world-class, and that’s what I want to see again. Where Bouma/Heitinga/Boulahrouz in my eyes have the quality to be a steady regular for a big club, Mathijsen has reached his peak at HSV.
That leaves only Boulah and Heitinga with possibiliies for a real topclub(is Atletico one? i truly ask? ), but yet again age might be the problem as Boulah is already 27 and for him to make the step to a bigger club or something he would have to prove himself again in 1/2 seasons.
So that’s why I turn to up and coming defenders, cause Heitinga is only one player and for reasons above we need reinforcement.
That’s all :)
I do agree that we could use some tall guys > Donk/Vlaar/Luirink/Loovens/(Maduro?)

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

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Username By Miguel Rosado | March 3rd, 2009 at 10:36 pm
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@Alex: I totally agree with you about Bouma. He is a very good defender who can also attack some times.

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Username By goose | March 4th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
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@Alex; Jeroen Drost?? think he is pretty afwul

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

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Username By Andrew | March 4th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
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@Alex, not sure what to think of Maduro at this point. He’s playing pretty consistently on the backline these days. Last week he played rb, but that was a bit of a mirage because, Valencia’s left back attacked up the field most of the time. Maduro stayed at home, and so it was more of three man back line. He seems a little languid in his movements, but I couldn’t tell whether he actually is a little slow or that it is a combination of his size and the way he moves. If it turns out he could be an effective stopper, he could be a plus because he plays the ball out of the back well.

Posted from United States United States

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Username By Jan | March 5th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
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Reminds me of Rijkaard…Maduro. When JC put a young Rijkaard as center stopper there was lot of criticism: too slow, too stoic, too laconic… Rijkaard took some time to grow into his role and Maduro isn’t different, I think. Frank walked away from Ajax, had an embarrasing fling with PSV and then decided to play his football for a Portuguese club, I believe and then shortly in Spain before AC Milan snatched him up. And it was there, when Frankie got the respect and admiration that seems to be the norm now when talk about his career. But in those days, I remember well how he was doubted by most…

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Username By Carlos | March 6th, 2009 at 1:09 am
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Frank walked away from JC swearing he would never play under him again at Ajax. He was signed by Sporting Portugal but signed too late and was then loaned out to Real Zaragoza (very embarrassingly). But he was the “Defender of the 88 EC” and his 2 mates secured his services for Milan.
The rest is history for our “Llama”. Liked him a lot as a player in fact ALL 3 at Milan were Demi Gods ! Every Dutch (and many German !) kids wanted to be like them at Milan.Saw this program many moons ago about a poll in Germany (1989) where 9/10 kids polled said their favourite player was either one of the Magnificent 3.

Posted from Singapore Singapore

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