Friday, November 12, 2021 at 07:21

Valentijn Driessen thinks that Louis van Gaal and Erwin van de Looi lose sight of ‘the human dimension’ with the treatment of Nathan Aké and Myron Boadu. The center defender of Manchester City reported to the Dutch during the previous international match two weeks after the death of his father for the international matches against Latvia and Gibraltar, in which he did not play a minute. Driessen writes in his column The Telegraph that Van Gaal should have either left Aké at home or given playing time.

“Nathan Aké reported to the Dutch two weeks after his father’s death for the double against Latvia and Gibraltar,” Driessen writes. Aké did not play a minute in the previous international match. “In fact, Van Gaal referred him to the stands twice. With that knowledge, Ake would have been much better off spending a week with his family. In the hectic life of a professional football player, free time is scarce. Even to deal with such a dramatic loss with your family. Then you don’t put someone in the stands for 180 minutes. You give him playtime or leave him at home.”

“It would be good if these KNVB national coaches sometimes take the human dimension into account,” Driessen continues, also pointing to Van de Looi. The national coach of Jong Oranje left Myron Boadu out of his selection, because he lacked a ‘certain attitude and ambition’ with the AS Monaco striker. “Would Erwin van de Looi also have such a quote included if this would apply to Ajax player Rensch or Feyenoord player Geertruida or FC Utrecht midfielder Timber? Of course not. Those clubs would stand on their hind legs. Rightly so. It is destruction of capital that Van de Looi is guilty of.”

Driessen states that Van de Looi should limit himself to ‘ventilating his opinion internally’ about players who are not there and emphasizes that a communiqué is not intended for that. “Not selecting tells the whole story. Then it is inappropriate to give such a player, who cannot, will not or may defend himself, a kick on paper”, says Driessen. He believes that ‘character assassination’ is being committed on Boadu and calls it a must for Van de Looi to ask Van Gaal about the ‘total human principle’. “Although, the senior national coach also dropped a serious stab in this context in the previous international match.”