Cruyff: "Ajax had agreed deal with Madrid"
Friday 10 April 2009
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.
|
