Mike Verweij reveals in the podcast Kick off by The Telegraph new details about the incident that took place this week at the the Dutch Under-19. Ar’jany Martha, Naci Ünüvar, Rio Hillen (all Ajax), Mimeirhel Benita (Feyenoord) and Xavi Simons (Paris Saint-Germain) were sent away by national coach Bert Konterman because of female visitors in the room.
“There were two girls in the room”, Verweij now adds to the reporting. “Reasonably innocent, it is also a bit of age, of course. They were in a hotel in Katwijk. Two stunning girls walked by and they were addressed from the balcony by players of the the Dutch Under-19, Benita and Martha. over here, come over here.’ They didn’t want that, until it was ‘knock, knock’ on the door. Then they were in the room anyway.”
“Then other players came, because the music got louder. Then others come,” said Verweij. This week the story hit the media that Ünüvar, Hillen and Simons would not have been in the room, but would have immediately turned around when they realized what was going on. According to Verweij, there were indeed five players in the room with the girls. “Whether they went to goose plates then? Well, it didn’t even come to goose plates, because the team manager was already in the room by then,” the journalist knows.
“Then they had to come to Bert Konterman,” he continues. “Then it was over. Then three players tried to explain what really happened, but Bert Konterman sent five players home. This is of all times, you know. Only: how do you deal with it as a coach? He could have solved this differently, or he could have said, “Five players broke their ankles during breakfast, and they’re not playing.” Then you would never have gotten this fuss.”
It was not the first incident involving the the Dutch Under-19. “Before that, Dillon Hoogewerf (of Manchester United, ed.) had already been sent away,” Verweij knows. “He had left the hotel the night before and had already been three times late, I believe. This was for a friendly against Italy. They had 11 players left, but the game was lost 3-0. The Bert Konterman effect,” he concludes cynically.