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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 isn’t 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.
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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 could’ve got Gareth Bale and barely a year’s 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 won’t 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 can’t 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 I’ll still be alive when that day comes, because that might take decades.
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Erwin and Ronald Koeman cheering for the money Fox throws at them!
