Wonder goal: Ronald de Boer

Ronald de Boer was one of those players of whom coaches never knew exactly what his best position was. They said it about numerous players: “he is great, but they need to invent a new position for him…”.

Kirsten Nygaard, Andrej Jeliazkov, Clarence Seedorf, Tarek Oulida, Igor Korneev, Kenneth Perez and many others come to mind.

Ronald de Boer had skill. There was nothing he couldn’t do with a ball. But he missed explosivity and maybe a killer instinct. In the Ajax youth, he played as a striker, but in reality, he played everywhere… Picking up the ball, taking on every opponent and then score. But his ideal position in Ajax 1 was an issue. Is he a striker? Not lethal enough. Is he the shadow striker? He misses explosivity. Is he a midfielder? He can’t defend… And so on. Players like Bergkamp, Litmanen, Petterson and even Ron Willems were considered more valuable. So, Ronald left for FC Twente. After he returned to Ajax, he played at several positions: striker, right winger, shadow striker and right midfield. He was too cool for school, at the end of the day and played many seasons for Ajax, Oranje, Barcelona and Glasgow Rangers to name a few clubs.

Here’s a great Ronald de Boer goal: