Valentijn Driessen believes that PSV is taking a lot of risk with attracting Mario Götze and Marco van Ginkel. The chief of football The Telegraph points in his column on Friday to the past of the two midfielders, who have often been injured on the side in recent years. Driessen also questions the way in which Mohamed Ihattaren is dealt with, who seems even further removed from a base place due to the arrival of the midfielders.

“Will the PSV of 2020 be the Feyenoord of 2007 or the Ajax of 2018? PSV is sailing so close to the wind this season that financial disaster awaits if the club does not play the Champions League next season, ”Driessen opens his column. He refers to the Feyenoord of thirteen years ago, which brought many expensive players to De Kuip. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Roy Makaay, Kevin Hofland, Tim de Cler and Michael Mols made a bid for the championship, but the performances were disappointing. “Since then, Feyenoord has been hungry financially.”

According to Driessen, the Ajax of 2018 is ‘the trigger’ for PSV of today. The team from Amsterdam stepped down from the salary ceiling two years ago, brought players such as Daley Blind and Dusan Tadic to the Johan Cruijff ArenA and made a name for themselves in the Champions League. As a result of its success in Europe, Ajax delivered several players for many millions of euros to the European top. “At PSV they hope for top prizes for Dumfries, Max, Sangaré, Teze, Gakpo, Madueke and Malen, but players in the Europa League do not pay the top prize”, says Driessen. “Well for those who play in the Champions League. Like De Ligt and De Jong at Ajax before they left for Juventus and Barcelona. In addition, they pay more for an Ajax player in Europe than for a PSV player. Schmidt is also busy turning goldcrest Ihattaren around. ”

Ihattaren lost his basic place under Schmidt and must fear a role on the second plan now that Adrian Fein, Van Ginkel and Götze have also been brought to the Philips Stadium. “From an entrepreneurial spirit, this ambition is justifiable at PSV,” said Driessen. “At the same time, the leadership is playing with the future, because this policy does not guarantee a place in the group stage of the Champions League in 2021. It is a gamble with great risks. No one can estimate the corona path and its consequences. The top reinforcements Van Ginkel and Götze have mainly been in the rag basket in recent years. Van Ginkel is still recovering and no one knows where Götze is. Not even Götze. ”

PSV presented the annual figures on Thursday, which showed that the sale of Hirving Lozano (Napoli) and Steven Bergwijn (Tottenham Hotspur) made a profit of 1.6 million euo. “Now there are still patches of fog hanging around PSV’s self-proclaimed rosy future. What is certain: if PSV want to write black figures again for the 2020/21 season, the club is obliged to get rid of at least one or two crown jewels such as Malen and Gakpo, ”said Driessen. “Anyone who sails close to the wind can also easily capsize. Feyenoord 2007 or Ajax 2018? PSV plays the dangerous game: all or nothing. ”