Sunday, November 27, 2022 at 11:07• Guy Habets

At the end of August, John de Jong spoke with the PSV Supervisory Board about a sale of Cody Gakpo. The former technical director of the people of Eindhoven, who was a guest at the NOS to analyze World Cup matches, admits that he had a discussion and that he himself insisted that Gakpo stay at PSV. That seems to have been a good decision, because the attacker is playing a good World Cup and can now make a lot of money.

The broadcast of the NOS started with the announcement that De Jong did not want to say anything about his early departure from PSV. The former director will explain his side of the story in detail later, but he thinks that is still too early. De Jong is said to have resigned due to a breach of trust with the Supervisory Board and whether or not to sell Gakpo was a subject on which both parties could not agree.

De Jong himself hinted at this when he was asked about Gakpo’s situation. “Cody has been waiting a long time for the transfer to Manchester United and it seemed to be coming. A week before the end of the transfer window that fell through. After that he had two options in the Premier League, but you never know how that will turn out He made the choice himself. In the end I did have a discussion with the Supervisory Board: whether or not to sell. I think it is really better for him that he stayed.”

Bringing in Xavi Simons is also a credit to De Jong. Many people hope that Louis van Gaal will give the attacking midfielder a chance in next Tuesday’s World Cup match against Qatar and De Jong is one of those people. “He will definitely become an international, and I even expect that to happen at this World Cup. I think Xavi has a long career as an international ahead of him and I hope he can make his debut on Tuesday.”