Classic symptom of Dutch football

Sjoerd Mossou
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Tuesday 23 September 2008

Feyenoord-Ajax on Sunday sketched out the future of Dutch football.

Very young talented players, surrounded by a handful of experienced players beyond their peaks and some exotics.

"There is no other way"
Georginio Wijnaldum hurried to the sideline to be substituted by a team mate who could have been his father.

Michael Mols (37) replaced the 17-year-old talent in the gripping Classic on Sunday.

Who wanted to saw in it the Eredivisie of the future.

A very young player hand in hand with a player in the autumn of his career; an image that was emphasized by Feyenoord's lineup with four teenagers and several players - Henk Timmer, Roy Makaay and Jon Dahl Tomasson - way over 30.

"It's the direction in which we're headed," coach Gertjan Verbeek said afterwards.

"Players will leave for the bigger leagues at a ever earlier age, making it ever harder for Dutch clubs to to get players in their prime, between the age of 24 and 30."

Forced by that development Feyenoord have adapted their transfer policy.

The club signed a bunch of players in their thirties with a good track record, to be able to add some quality to the team on short term.

"But also to help our youngsters," Technical Director Peter Bosz always added.

"The older players should contribute to their development. Because we do have a lot of talent at Feyenoord.."

Because of a long list of injured players the Rotterdam youths were in the spotlight on Sunday afternoon.

Feyenoord kicked off with a midfield that averaged 19 years and they stood their ground against Ajax.

"It was good to see," says Bosz.

"Leroy Fer is only 18 but he was already playing his second classic. And on the bench we had several other players coming directly from the academy, like Schet, Janota and Wattamaleo."

Ajax too had a youthful look about them.

Gregory van der Wiel was preferred over the Uruguayan signing Bruno Silva, which resulted in great clashed between him and Diego Biseswar.

The club from Amsterdam have slightly different policy but they too let the youngsters get their share.

Where Feyenoord are forced to aim for older players with a Dutch background on the transfer market, Ajax - richer - are looking for some added value with a small number of players of exceptional quality.

A club must be willing to splash out the cash for players like Miralem Sulejmani or Luis Suárez, Marco van Basten figures.

Add some of their own youth and see here future Ajax.

"As a Dutch professional club you shall have to be creative, there's no other way," says Bosz who can only spend a fraction of what Ajax has to roam the transfer market.

"In modern football you can't get around the fact that players leave for bigger leagues at the age of 23 or even younger. Good players from the group between 25 and 30 are too expensive for any Dutch club. They are all playing in England, Spain and Germany."

That development isn't all that new, but it took a while for the Dutch clubs to come up with a fitting answer.

Only PSV can sort of mingle with the big clubs on the transfer market thanks to good scouting.

Feyenoord messed around with mediocre foreigners for a long time and Ajax even last year signed players like Laurent Delorge, Kennedy Bakircioglu and Jürgen Colin.

One by one they have been made redundant by Van Basten.

Feyenoord are also cleansing their squad, albeit step by step.

"Quality must be the key factor in all decisions we make," Bosz thinks.

But without money and a small squad coach Gertjan Verbeek still has to use players who are actually not suited for the level, such as Serginho Greene or Danny Buijs.

But young players are getting an ever bigger chance in Rotterdam nowadays.

"When I arrived here I heard a lot of people saying that our squad was way too old," Verbeek says.

"But in the match against Ajax everyone could see that that is only relative. With all these youngsters there is a balance in the team. It's just a different balance than it used to be."