Willem van Hanegem hopes that Mohamed Ihattaren will soon be back to normal. Under trainer Roger Schmidt, PSV’s eighteen-year-old talent is no longer invariably one of the eleven basic forces he was last season, because the German mainly looks at the present moment and not the theoretical potential in a few years’ time. In the meantime, Ihattaren has not yet managed to score a single goal or assist in an official game in 2020 and it did not come out on Sunday at Heracles Almelo (1-1).

Ihattaren got his first starting place under Schmidt in the Eredivisie, but the teenager was changed again in the break. Van Hanegem has his reservations about the course of events. “Ihattaren now has to master the PSV game system much more. Because apparently that is a very complicated system, there in Eindhoven ”, the former football player and trainer said cynically in his column in the Algemeen Dagblad. “To be honest, I just see a team that relies on simple counter football. That is allowed, but let’s not pretend that under trainer Roger Schmidt it is suddenly higher mathematics. ”

“I saw Ihattaren against Ajax last season in Eindhoven and he was in a class of his own. He is a great player ”, Van Hanegem emphasizes. “Those guys come fast because they are uninhibited, do what they think. And when it does, the smarties come and stuff them in a straightjacket. At Ihattaren we are in danger of screwing up a top player. No, we are not teaching him the laws of top football, I don’t believe in that. ”

Bee FOX Sports Kenneth Perez and Ronald de Boer suggested that Ihattaren may still suffer from the loss of his father just under a year ago. Van Hanegem does not rule that out either. “I think Ihattaren has lost his support and anchor in the field of sports. That quality-less Bruma might fit better in the system, but Ihattaren has more talent in his little toe. Yesterday in Almelo he was replaced again, although it may have been due to an injury. But too often he didn’t play before that. ”

Van Hanegem hopes that brand new national coach Frank de Boer will lend a helping hand and give Ihattaren playing time next month. The teenager was called up in the international matches under interim national coach Dwight Lodeweges, but his debut was not made. That too will undoubtedly have been a disappointment. “This is a great talent to help you through a difficult phase in his life. Then you shouldn’t talk about systems or about a kilo more or less. Dwight Lodeweges let him down with Orange too. While we were on our knees to ask if he would please choose the Netherlands. If I find that disappointing, how will the player himself think? ”