Mario Been looks to the future
Tuesday 18 August 2009
The man of the afternoon stood
at the touch line, proudly sticking out his hand.
With a big smile Mario Been congratulated
his players with the 1-0 victory over Heracles.
In the background the fans chanted
his name.
The victory brought the Rotterdam
club a shared top spot, but more than that it gave Been
the confirmation he needed.
With Roy Makaay, Kevin Hofland,
Tim de Cler and Denny Landzaat on the bench Feyenoord
beat Heracles the team of their former coach Gertjan
Verbeek.
It was the first win in Almelo
in three seasons for Feyenoord.
That only strengthened the position
of Been.
One by one he dropped his big names,
with Makaay being the biggest name of all.
It's not for nothing that agent
Rob Jansen, representing De Cler, Hofland and Makaay,
will meet with the board of the club tomorrow.
The subject of the meeting is evident:
what to do now that the transfer market closes in two
weeks?
It's no secret that Feyenoord want
to offload at least one of their expensive reserve players.
Been denies that he is deliberately
raising the pressure on the four players, but the hint
of the coach is clear: Feyenoord don't see a future
for the players who arrived with so much noise two years
ago.
Been says that no one has to leave.
But so far the coach walks the
thin line between tough choices and a friendly arm around
the shoulder.
Been is capable of praising Makaay
and sending him on his way to another club in one sentence:
"Roy has had a magnificent career but he is not
the type of player that should end his career on the
bench. He has achieved too much for that."
The question is just how many options
remain for Feyenoord and the four obsolete players.
A player with the scoring average
of Makaay can easily find another club, but the player
himself has indicated that he does not want to leave
Holland.
Besides that it remains top be
seen if there are any clubs waiting for Landzaat (33),
Hofland (30) and De Cler (30) looking at their last
two seasons, also considering their big salaries.
Been's choices are justified though.
As long as André Bahia forms
a solid couple at the back with Ron Vlaar, Hofland should
not count on too many minutes.
In midfield Landzaat is losing
the battle with Leroy Fer and Karim El Ahmadi, while
Tim de Cler has captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst in
front of him.
"And against Heracles it was
obvious that Tomasson is a more active center forward
than Roy," says Been.
The match against Heracles however
wasn't a revelation of any kind, but Been is looking
to the future, choosing young players who can either
have a future in Rotterdam or be sold for a nice sum
of money.
And money is what Feyenoord have
not at the moment.
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