In an interview with Dutch TV that has not yet been broadcast Johan Cruijff Johan Cruyff revealed that he came close to playing for Madrid in his active career after the Ajax management had secretly agreed a deal for Cruyff to be transferred from Ajax to Real Madrid in the summer of 1973.

Talking about how he tried to change the position of the players in football by using the power of the media he talked about the way a new contract with Ajax was negotiated: "I was the first Dutch player who would bring a manager to the negotiations - my father-in-law Cor Coster - and he would not be allowed in at the negotiations. That was a moment I would use the press. The same thing happened on my transfer to Barcelona. Ajax had already agreed terms with Real Madrid. Behind my back, without me knowing about it! Hey, that's not going to happen. That was a moment I would use the media, telling them that this and that had happened."

"That is why there was such a fuzz about the whole deal with Barcelona. I was amazed. What was this? They explained it by saying they had coincidentally come into contact with Madrid - well we all know about such 'coincidences', especially at that level... That's when I decided: I shall go to Barcelona."

Cruyff played four years for the Catalan giants, winning the league title in his first year and the Spanish Cup in his last season.

In 1973 and 1974 Cruyff was elected European Footballer of the Year.

"The intellectualisation
of football has
always foundered
on a simple problem-
-the players. Doing
all your most
rewarding thinking
with your feet seems
to dull the philo-
sophical impulse.
Unless, of course,
you are Dutch.
According to legend,
Europeans played
a moronic, muscular
version of the world's
game, until Holland
proclaimed its vision
of total football in the
1974 World Cup,
and enlightenment
dawned."

From:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football