please log in to view this image Is it past 12? Yep, the market is finally closed. The exodus is complete. September 3d has arrived and silence dominates the football markets. As the dust settles, the agents, players, technical directors and managers can finally get some sleep. When the day breaks and reality kicks back in, the league is left with teams in shambles; talents and creativity have to be found in what remains in the Eredivisie. And it isnât much, I can tell you that. Here is an overview of all the major transfers this summer(every transfer above one million euros): Kevin Strootman: PSV -> AS Roma 16.5m ⬠Wilfried Bony: Vitesse -> Swansea City 13.9m ⬠Christian Eriksen: Ajax -> Tottenham Hotspur 13.5m ⬠Jozy Altidore: AZ Alkmaar -> Sunderland 10m ⬠Dries Mertens: PSV -> Napoli 9.7m ⬠Marco van Ginkel: Vitesse -> Chelsea 9.4m ⬠Jeremain Lens: PSV -> Dynamo Kiev 9m ⬠Nacer Chadli: FC Twente -> Tottenham Hotspur 8.15m ⬠Toby Alderweireld: Ajax -> Atletico Madrid 7m ⬠Filip Djuricic: SC Heerenveen -> Benfica 6m ⬠Leroy Fer: FC Twente -> Norwich City 5.5m ⬠Erik Pieters: PSV -> Stoke City 3.6m ⬠Virgil van Dijk: FC Groningen -> Celtic 3m ⬠Marcelo: PSV -> Hannover 96 2.75m ⬠Derk Boerrigter: Ajax -> Celtic 2.5m ⬠Sanharib Malki: Roda JC -> Kasimpasa 1.5m ⬠Leandro Bacuna: FC Groningen -> Aston Villa 1m ⬠Figures from Transfermarkt.com and Dutch media. please log in to view this image Strootman's transfer to AS Roma was the biggest this summer. Add all the transfers up and you get a staggering 111.3 million euros in profit for the entire Eredivisie. There was only one league in the world that made more profit than the Dutch league: the Brazilian Série A which made a 183 million profit, with a bit of help from Neymar(57m) and Shakhtar Donetsk which spent 60 million on four players from Brazil. But still, a 111 million euros. We couldâve got Gareth Bale and barely a yearâs salary with that! That may all sound great but the league is now deprived of any developed talent and the few that are remaining are already looking for options in the winter transfer period, like Tadic, Toivonen and Finnbogason. This season Ajax, PSV and FC Twente are falling back on their youth academy hoping that new talent will stand up and develop. Now with the last generation out of the way the youngsters can rise up again and gain experience, progress and hopefully by the end of the season, the Eredivisie will have produced another generation of prospects and sensations. But judging from the first five rounds, the quality of the players has obviously dropped, though some exciting players have come in on loans this summer. The main worry is that with a new broadcast contract with Fox Sports and the hundreds of millions of euros coming in through transfers, the clubs will drop their ambitions in favour of the money. Johan Cruijff himself stated that he wants to bring Ajax to a level that they can win the Europa League or Champions League again. Selling Eriksen and Alderweireld wonât do them any good and even though the money is helpful, an international title will be out of the equation for the next five, maybe ten years. Same goes for PSV and Feyenoord. The clubs are not willing to spend and the fans are the victims as always. They watch the news, jealous of the clubs in England, Italy and Spain who can spend hundreds of millions without repercussions from the UEFA or FA. Whilst we count our euros(grateful the clubs are not going bust but get to play their matches for another couple of seasons), Real Madrid can spend 99 million euros on Bale, Arsenal splash out 45 million on Ãzil, and Napoli pay 37 million for HiguaÃn, just to name a few. The Dutch clubs canât wait for FFP to go into full effect. They hope they can finally compete with the big leagues like in the old days once the UEFA implements it in full. And to be frank, I hope Iâll still be alive when that day comes, because that might take decades. please log in to view this image Erwin and Ronald Koeman cheering for the money Fox throws at them!
Everyone's back at school now. Well 'cept the old farts of course. As normal I enjoyed the article. The figures involved are frankly crazy. Makes you wonder why countries are in recession and struggling yet in this parallel universe that is football there's more money than sense.
Thanks for the support, the recession has hit the Eredivisie hard but luckily the transfers have kept it alive. Without the exodus of players every summer most of the Eredivisie clubs would've gone bust by now. So on one hand it looks senseless, on the other, we're lucky it is senseless.
Not being funny but the dutch got completely ripped off. 13 million for Eriksen?????????? 9 Million for Mertens??? Unbelievebale should have easily been 25 million and 15million. I know it's a different league and prices inflate differently but that's incredible. Huge talents going for cheap.
Eriksen had 1y left on his contract. Mertens didn't do too well last season, didn't connect with striker Matavz and was inconsistent throughout the season.
Yes please open a new thread on each clubs forum with no relevance to the club in question. And then reply to every few replies that are received to bump it up to the top of the thread list again. You may not call it spam. I call it as I see it.
He looks a different player from what I've seen, much more direct facing goal. I thought we might have had a go at getting somebody like Boerrigter from Ajax or maybe Siem de Jong- in fact there are quite a few really good players in that league who would have been better value signings than Shane Long could have been
I've seen him play a couple of times since joining Sunderland and he doesn't look much better. He seems to be able to create a chance with a nice turn etc. but then lacks the composure to put it in.
Eredivisie is pretty much depleted when it comes to strikers, just Pelle and Finnbogason left. Sightorsson, Castaignos and Mulenga are not good enough for the PL. For bargains you'll have to check back in with me in December as there's no telling what will happen between now and the next three months(injuries/developments). For example: Fischer was the big revelation at Ajax last season, got benched last week.
Just as horrible, lacks composure and finishing skills to be a real effective striker. His year at Juventus has completely ruined his development. I wasn't fond of him at Feyenoord, it's only gotten worse since. I wrote a bit on him about his performance last weekend here: http://thecovereport.sportsblog.com/post/195337/round_5_in_the_eredivisie.html
