please log in to view this image There are four months between the Summer and Winter Transfer Markets and within those four months, things can change quite dramatically for players. Net worth can decrease, potentials can fade away and prospects might become disappointments. In the past 18 weeks in the Eredivisie all of that has happened. Usually I make lists of players that are the best transfer targets for that period when the markets are open. This Winter, I have to make an exception because a many players that were bound to go abroad in the Summer never made a move. The case of Ola Toivonen is a prime example of that. PSV have been trying to get a 1 year extension signed by the Swede. Problem is, he is already at the salary-cap but he still demands more. Problem for Ola is that he hasnât shown his worth on the pitch in recent months. His net worth has declined fast and a few clubs seem to be interested in his services. Dutch media have also been reporting that he has been a big part of the dysfunction within the PSV team, causing all sorts of problems in the locker room. please log in to view this image Whilst Toivonen is one case, there are many more, so here is a list with the disappointments in the Eredivisie: Jordie Clasie(Feyenoord CM): Has regressed, lacks experience to be a leader in midfield. Even though his work-rate is good, he has been very inconsistent. Siem de Jong(Ajax AM): After his lung collapsed early in the season he has been out of form and picked up injury after injury. Has been replaced by Davy Klaassen. Stefan de Vrij(Feyenoord): Inconsistent, extremely regressed in his development and defensively very weak. Feyenoord is lucky to have Joris Mathijsen because this was supposed to be the season to let De Vrij take leadership of the defence and the team, he horribly failed to do both. Viktor Fischer(Ajax LW,ST): Lost his form of last year. He has the quality but so far has been a bit too eager to show his talent. Defenders have discovered how to take him out and since then hasnât been very effective. Kolbein Sightorsson(Ajax ST): Injury after injury and when he is in good health, proves that he is not a class striker, just a very, very average one. Adam Maher(PSV CM): THE biggest disappointment of the season. Canât seem to find his way in the PSV team. Still shows signs of brilliance now and then but they should put him on the missing persons list in Eindhoven as he has been invisible in the entire first half of the season. Georgino Wijnaldum(PSV AM): Good start of the season but has been injured for 3 months. So these names are the ones to avoid this Winter, but even though the Eredivisie has been ransacked in the Summer, there are still a couple of names on the âto watchâ-list for clubs in the EPL. Alfred Finnbogason(Heerenveen ST): He was in top form at the start of the season but ran a bit out of steam a bit towards the end of the year. Very consistent striker but, and this is a big but, still needs a lot of chances to score goals. His positioning and finishing are currently the best for a striker in the Eredivisie, on top of that he is incredibly strong as well. His technique, speed and ball security however are below par and cause him to miss a lot of chances. SC Heerenveen tried to extend his contract but so far Finnbogason has snubbed all offers and wants to move on. With 1.5 years left on his contract he could be a bargain for any team that can take a big risk. There is one condition though, he needs minutes. Used as a sub, he is worthless. Worth 4-6 million pounds Daley Blind Ajax(LB, DM): Extremely consistent and has made quite a development defensively. He became a decent left back last season but lacks top speed to be effective. Frank de Boer has put him on midfield this season next to Davy Klaassen and made a direct impact there. His passing and positioning are superb and therefore could attract the interest of clubs. Worth 6-8 million pounds. Davy Pröpper (Vitesse CM): Ever since the departure of Marco van Ginkel to Chelsea, Pröpper has been the rising star at Vitesse. This midfielder got the chance to be the play maker in midfield and took it. The guy has been phenomenal this season. Worth 2-5 million as his contract runs out this season, but he is in talks with the club to get an extension. [video=youtube;UC7qKZpU9dQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC7qKZpU9dQ[/video] Maarten Martens(AZ Alkmaar, AM): This 29 year old Belgian is inconsistent, but has brilliant technique. Poor work-rate and a bit complacent but, he has half a year left on his contract and is not willing to sign an extension. Potential bargain for 1 or 2 million pounds. Roy Beerens(AZ Alkmaar, RW): This guy has been the engine of AZ this season. He is a box to box winger with an extremely high work-rate. His tactics, vision and technique are good but his problem is his finishing. A lot of chances he tries to convert himself and most of the time he shoots them in the second ring. At a bigger club he would probably look for options more and therefore could be a very good winger for the EPL. 4-5 million pounds. Dusan Tadic(FC Twente AM/RM): Bit invisible this season but still is a quality attacking midfielder. His technique, passing and shooting makes him one of the best players in the league. Could be an option for lower table clubs. 5-7 million pounds. Kenneth Vermeer(Ajax GK): Fallen out of grace with Frank de Boer and got benched. The guy is still a good Michel Vorm type of goalie with excellent reflexes. At 29 he is in need of a new club and therefore on a cheap: 2-3 million pounds. Others on the list: -Luc Castaignos(FC Twente, ST): Poor start of the season but regained some of his form in November. Still misses a lot of chances but his positioning, work rate and his concentration are top notch. -Filip Kostic(Groningen, AM): 21y old AM with brilliant passes, tactics and a good vision on the pitch. 5-6 million. -Kristoffer Nordfeldt(SC Heerenveen): Flappy but experienced goalkeeper. Poor technique and distribution but excellent at shot stopping, neutralizing crosses and one-on-ones. Just an old school goalie. 3-5 million. -Graziano Pelle(Feyenoord ST): Bit reluctant to put his name in here, never had any success outside of the Eredivisie but an amazing striker for Feyenoord. A killer in the box, at Feyenoord they have one policy when it comes to attacking: give the ball to Pelle. 8-10 million. -Lasse Schöne(Ajax) : Solid, experienced midfielder. 27y old, 5-7 million -Hakim Ziyech(SC Heerenveen): Revelation of the season, gifted midfielder with brilliant free kicks and long range shots. At 18 too young to make a move but a definite must watch this season. And thatâs the list of transfer targets this Winter.
Funny how football works out. All these players - Jordie Clasie, Siem de Jong, Stefan de Vrij, Viktor Fischer, Adam Maher and Georgino Wijnaldum - were seen as great players to take from the Dutch league over the summer and were scouted many times by the English clubs as well as other European teams. Now they've all dropped in form. Either they're now off the radar, or seen as 'Sturridge' type deals where they might be available for cheaper and just need the right club/team/manager to perk them back up. Maher and Classie I'm still a fan of and Fischer is like Sterling - all the talent but needs to show it more often, like Raheem is starting to do now.
Castaignos is another funny one, we were linked with him before he moved to inter for a bit but now back in the dutch league. I do like Tadic and think he could help a lot of teams out. Siem de Jong was quality but that lung collapse must have scared every ****er off. Wijnaldum is still young but his name has been bandied about in the wonder kid status for a long time, about time for him to step out of that shadow.
I am sure Cove might not pop in but if you do cove: How come street footy is so prevelant along with one of the best futsal leagues but it seems the style of Dutch player really hasn't changed? Where are the Davids, Kluiverts of the world who grew up in that sort of element?
The Dutch league is a conservative one, we like quality football but without taking the risks like in the EPL. Technique and passing are the basics and then comes creativity and finishing. In Europe the football has changed a bit, too a more physical type of play. So our players have adapted to suit the need of foreign clubs. Strootman, Vertonghen, Suarez, Ibrahimovic, Altidore, Bony, all very strong guys with great technique. There are a couple of adaptations like Vurnon Anita, Jonathan de Guzman or Dries Mertens, but all of them have the same basics. To make them world class players, you have to get further than that, which is what happened with Suarez. Players need to cycle between leagues to improve more and more, to learn more aspects of the game. So we can't deliver the next Kluivert or Davids, we can mold them, but they have to be polished in other leagues.
So strange you have such a technical basic demand yet right on the doorstep are some of the sickest players ( in terms of creativity with the ball at their feet) and a lot of those guys, I guess you could classify as immigrants? Moroccans and such. The futsal league is top notch too. Always wondered why they never tried to blend some of that into the sort of robotic basics that get taught generation by generation.
The third generation string of Moroccans are coming through the ranks, Assaidi, Labyad, Afellay, Ziyech, Maher. They're not really considered immigrants as their mother and father were born in The Netherlands and so were they, however they usually opt for Morocco as they have dual nationality. The technique and quick passing is still a part of Dutch Football but because of the big drop in quality compared with the 90ies, the tikki takka age is gone. Probably forever.
He is supposed to be the next big thing right? The immigrant thing was incorrect, I was meaning more of the sort of foreign influence and those guys ( Especially the moroccans, issy hitman springs to mind) have such good individual technique. Just wondering when we will see the next dutch player that has a bit of that flash.
Here is more on Labyad: http://thecovereport.sportsblog.com/posts/137698/the_rich_kids.html Labyad is one of those Rich Kids, went to Sporting Portugal on a free transfer, screwed over PSV, and practically hasn't played a full game in two years now. His agent tried to get him back to PSV when Sporting went bust, PSV said no and now he is practically a free agent but still on a 2 million euro a year contract. Time to wipe that name out of the list of 'next big things'.
He was the one with a really bad attitude right? What about outside of the dutch league some unknown players, ola john at benfica for example?
I edited my post when I realized I didn't mentioned him by name. Ola John actually was one of the more mentally stable rich kids. 9 million euro transfer to Benfica and he actually had a shot at making it to the first team. Played some good minutes in his first season but got dropped this summer. Ajax are rumoured to pick him up this season to replace Fischer.
Hey Cove, can you give me some information on Richairo Zivkovic? He's being touted as a future star and there's a bit of a question in the Serbian media as to who he will declare allegiance to. I've never seen him play but according to sources he's supposedly up there with the more talented youngsters in the league.
Hi Danilo, Richairo has made a name of himself this season, knocking Arjan Robben off his throne as youngest FC Groningen player to score a goal for the club at age 16. He has had a fair share of starts but manager Van Loo benched him towards the end of the year duo to fatigue. The media is in disagreement of that decision however. Yesterday the media reported that Zivkovich has let the Dutch FA know that he will opt for the Dutch National team when given the chance to play for them. Time will tell if he keeps his word. The lad seems like he has a bit of class, in the North of The Netherlands they have a down-to-earth and no stardom policy. If you see how things went wrong for Bakkali at PSV I think that Zivkovich is at the right club to develop. He is getting minutes and he's scoring goals but more importantly: he is finishing his high school education and misses training camp this winter because of it. He will probably have a couple of more starts and sub-ons this season but give him a couple more seasons before we hype the kid.
Shame he didnt choose Serbia but I suppose its only fair. He received a Dutch footballing education and grew up there. Funnily enough he considers himself a Serbian Dutchman from the Antilles with Curacaoan descent. What a combination! I know Groningen developed Suarez a bit after Nacional and that's where he made most of his European debuts. He's in good hands then. Cheers
His words last week in front of the camera: 'You don't often see a Serbain speaking Dutch negro'. He used the word 'neger' which literally translates to negro. Suarez and negro in one post, that calls for a bit more context
