Nick Olij was eliminated on Saturday with NAC Breda in the Kitchen Champion Play-Offs and with that, according to his own expectation, has played his last game for the Breda team. Olij announced shortly after the defeat at ADO Den Haag (2-0) that he was going to take a summer step up. “Whether I stay? I don’t think so,” said Olij to Hans Kraay junior van ESPN†
Last Thursday Olij was presented with the prize for Best Keeper from the Kitchen Champion Division from Louis van Gaal. Now the 26-year-old goalkeeper, who transferred free of transfer from AZ to NAC three years ago, thinks it is time to leave. “I think of myself that I had a very stable, good season. At some point you want to get out of that KKD. I have a contract for two years, but we are busy with it.”
At the Championship Dinner, Van Gaal expressed the hope that Olij will return to AZ. “‘My heart is with AZ, but if you now look at the AZ goalkeeper, what do you think?”, the national coach of the Dutch referred to Peter Vindahl, who cannot charm him. Olij is also thinking of a switch to the Eredivisie. “If it were up to Louis van Gaal, yes,” says the 1.88 meter tall goalkeeper. “He certainly understands it, yes.”
NAC had huge opportunities in The Hague on Saturday, but left the field with a 2-0 loss. “In general, over two games, it is well deserved,” says Olij, who already lost 1-2 to ADO with NAC in Breda. “I think we were too erratic this season, we played very much below our level. That may also have something to do with quality. We lost a lot of quality this season with Ralf Seuntjens (who left for Japan in March, ed.) and Thom Haye (sold to sc Heerenveen in January, ed.). No one actually replaced that, but we were still happy to make it to the play-offs. You know it can still go crazy, but it’s naturally sour that it ends like this.”
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