Arne Slot believes that Feyenoord can at least participate in the championship for a long time next season. The team from Rotterdam finished last season on twelve points from national champions Ajax, which, like PSV, invested heavily in the selection this summer. “We are in a completely different phase than these clubs. But despite that, we have already shown that we can come close,” says Slot.
“Twelve points sounds like a lot,” Slot said in an interview with the General Newspaper. “But we both lost the Classics. If you do win that, then six will go off at Ajax and six more at us and then you are equal.” The coach also mentions that Feyenoord played the Classic in an empty Kuip and Ajax received support in Amsterdam from a full Johan Cruijff ArenA against Feyenoord. “Anyway, winning twice may be easy to talk about, but I haven’t seen any strength difference in those mutual matches.”
Ajax became champion last season with 83 points. According to Slot, the same number of points will not suffice next season to crown you as national champion. “If you look at the investments of Ajax and PSV, I estimate that the new national champion will have to get a lot of points. Well over eighty points, I think. So we also have to take a lot of points to keep up.”
“Of course I also see things happening at Ajax and PSV that are at odds with what is happening with us now,” Slot continues. “They get internationals and established players there, they even pay the highest transfer fee ever for a player. We broke our sales record, are in a completely different phase than Ajax and PSV.” Slot is looking forward, however, to offer a lot of resistance to the competitors next season. “That worked out very well last season. It took a long time before Ajax and PSV could really put us behind. And in Europe we beat clubs with much larger budgets. That challenge is there again.”
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