Dutch top clubs strengthen themselves less and less often with players from the Eredivisie, it concludes Algemeen Dagblad. The newspaper spoke with various technical directors from the Dutch league, who call it a bad development for Dutch football. “On the other hand: Brentford and Eintracht Frankfurt are paying a lot of money for our players Halil Dervisoglu and Ragnar Ache. We simply cannot get those amounts for our players in the Eredivisie. At the most from Ajax, I think ”, says Henk van Stee, technical director of Sparta Rotterdam.

ADO Den Haag director Mohammed Hamdi says that he no longer counts on nice transfer fees when a player is sold within the Eredivisie. “We think that Shaquille Pinas could make that step, but the big clubs have not yet knocked. The fact that no more players are bought in the Eredivisie itself is a bad development for Dutch football. When we earn something, we spend it in the First Division. Now many clubs are waiting for interest from abroad and the question is whether that is good for the player. ”

Although there have been several Eredivisie players who have made the step to the Dutch top in recent years, nowadays it is more often foreign clubs that shop in the Netherlands. “Clubs in the Serie A and Championship in England have taken over that role”, Van Stee notes. “Last year Ajax picked up players such as keeper Kjell Scherpen from Emmen and Kik Pierie from Heerenveen. It is possible, but perhaps the solution is that they immediately rent those guys out again. ” Van Stee emphasizes that the situations are variable: “Feyenoord did not want Julian Chabot when he played with us. Still, Sampdoria deposited a lot of money at FC Groningen for that player. So they could have earned that too. ”

Frank Arnesen, technical director of Feyenoord, also notices major differences with the past. When clubs from abroad were only allowed to line up three foreign players, everything was different. He also sees that Dutch clubs sometimes charge amounts that a club like Feyenoord cannot just cough up. “Suppose a club in the right row of the Eredivisie has a player that Feyenoord would like to have. Then they charge two million, while we cannot even pay half, for example, ”says Arnesen, who thinks that agreements about a resale percentage could be a solution.

Arnesen also sees the differences with Ajax. Amsterdammers are able to invest millions, even in teenagers. Last year, the club reportedly paid three million euros for the now seventeen-year-old Christian Rasmussen. “That club can do that, but it also yields real money,” Arnesen says. “If you get four young Danes for around ten million euros and one succeeds, you will soon have fully recouped that amount. For example, I was very charmed by the sixteen-year-old Jeppe Kjaer, who chose Ajax this summer. Those clubs in Denmark now know: if they have a great talent, they wait for Ajax. Denmark has also almost become a closed market for Feyenoord. ”