There is no denying it, Eredivisie clubs are struggling in European competition. The Champions League is the pinnacle of club football; the team that wins it each year will widely be considered the best club team in the world. Unfortunately, lately it seems like Dutch clubs cannot even advance out of the group stages, whereas clubs in Germany, Spain, Italy and England seem to be in the final eight every single season.
This is not to compare Eredivisie teams to those footballing giants, but to pose the question; why can’t teams from the Netherlands be giants as well? Not too long ago they were; Ajax had a revolving door of talent, spitting out elite squads at will. But it has been twenty years since they were last crowned champions of Europe. An entire generation has grown up where European success for Eredivisie clubs is a foreign concept.
Where do the shortcomings begin? Could it be tactics and coaching? This seems unlikely, as Dutch coaches are very talented. Iconic managers such as Louis van Gaal, who has had stints at Bayern Munich, Ajax, Manchester United and Barcelona on his resume; Ronald Koeman, who is the only man to both play for and manage Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven; Frank De Boer, who managed to win the Eredivisie title in each of his first four years at Ajax. All of these coaches bar van Gaal have failed to bring Eredivisie clubs to Champions League glory, despite having tremendous success elsewhere.
Talent is not the issue, either. The Netherlands produced some of the best footballers in its illustrious and storied history during the 2000’s. The all-time leading scorer and the second all-time leading scorers in the history of the Oranje in Robin Van Persie and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, legends in the shape of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Rafael Van Der Vaart have also donned the KNVB jersey in recent years.
The problem is that while the league has produced many talented individuals, few of the best Dutch players played in the Eredivisie at the height of their powers. Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie both left at the tender age of 20, while Rafael Van Der Vaart left Ajax at only 22.
When Ajax went to back-to-back Champions league finals in 1995 and 1996, winning in 1995, they had a plethora of Dutch stars from goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar all the way up to striker Patrick Kluivert. That is a staggering amount of talent at just one club; their entire starting XI in the 1995 Champions League final had successful careers for club and country.
It has become very evident that the reason Dutch teams have come up short in European competitions is the lack of talented veterans. For the most part, the top teams in the Eredivisie consist of young teenagers who have all the talent in the world and older players a little past their prime. Seldom are the best players at their peak, meaning that they rely heavily on youthful, inexperienced players.
Last year’s PSV Eindhoven team is a perfect example of this. The team was carried by 21-year-old Memphis Depay and 24-year-old Georginio Wijnaldum, with complimentary pieces in Jetro Willems and Karim Rekik, both 20, anchoring the defence.
Although the squad dominated domestically they struggled in Europe, failing to qualify against an underachieving Milan team in the Champions League before falling short in the Europa league. The same can be said for Ajax who failed once again to make it out of the group stages of the Champions league as they had to rely on an inexperienced frontline of Anwar El Ghazi, Arkadiusz Milik and Ricardo Kishna.
It has become commonplace for talented Dutch players to leave the Eredivisie at a young age before reaching their top potential. Both Memphis and Wijnaldum left for England while Kishna has made a move to Serie A. Teams do not have enough money to keep their top prospects and cannot pass up on high transfer offers. Every transfer window, the Netherlands is the country where top clubs go to poach young talent and stash them for the future. How could PSV not sell starlet Memphis Depay when Manchester United came calling with a €28 million bid?
Now players are being bought at an even younger age; under-17s like Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Javairo Dilrosun, who left for Manchester United and Manchester City, didn’t even give the Dutch clubs a chance. If this trend continues, Dutch football will not be able to last much longer in top competitions.
When clubs are able to hold onto some of their star players they have been able to do surprisingly well. Eindhoven this season have finally made it out of the group stages and will face Spanish giants Atlético Madrid in the Last 16 of the Champions League.
They have seasoned players all around the pitch in Andres Guardado, Luuk De Jong, Luciano Narsingh and Davy Propper, all of whom are in their mid-twenties. They are then completed with young talents like Jurgen Locadia and Marco Van Ginkel. They have been able to hold onto these established players and this will be crucial if they wish to continue in the Champions League.
All in all, the Dutch teams simply do not have the finances to hold onto top young talents and are not in a position to hold onto them when big clubs come knocking. Unless this changes, the Eredivisie will continue to struggle in European football.
