Why Feyenoord loses connection with PSV and Ajax Now

It's early November and Feyenoord does not seem to have any chance of winning the Premier League title. A year and a half after the national championship, Rotterdammers lost the link with PSV and Ajax, not just in points. NU.nl lists the five most important causes.

The day after the 3-0 win against Heracles Almelo, coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst at Coolsingel is buried under compliments and sung outside by thousands of spectators. by enthusiastic fans of the club who had to wait eighteen years before winning a title.

Van Bronckhorst amuses himself and takes the word "pride" several times in his mouth, but he is already working on it next season. . He wants to prevent this from happening and that the people of Rotterdam South are showing such patience.

"Because of the achievements we have achieved in the last two years – winning the cup and becoming a champion – we can not say we are less satisfied, we are going again for the championship, but we also want to to show in the Champions League, it works at the top, that's what we all want? ", he said in an interview

Van Bronckhorst is disappointed. He will win the KNVB Cup again last season, but in the competition, the title chances are already lost in January and the disappointing fourth place was last place. Also, the adventure in the Champions League has become an adventure to forget quickly.

Feyenoord must fear this season for the same scenario. In Europe, after the embarrassing elimination of AS Trencín in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, it is already over and in the championship, PSV's delay is ten points after ten rounds of play. cut seems to be able to compensate again.

This looks more and more like the sixteenth national championship in the history of Feyenoord who has yet to wait a bit and the fifteenth is an incident. How is this possible and why did PSV and Ajax manage to take action?

1. The talent is lagging behind

In 2013, Feyenoord had the opportunity to enter the football pyramid and allow Jong Feyenoord to participate in the First Division. The club has seen this and to the disappointment of Van Bronckhorst, the under-23s are still playing exhibition games Monday night, instead of playing "for failure" in a full stadium against FC Twente .

Reserve players such as Dylan Vente, have as a consequence Bart Nieuwkoop and Mohamed El Hankouri barely get into the action and if they do, they do not compete with the physically strong players of the Kitchen Champion Division, but with talents aged 19 and 20.

The PSV and Ajax clearly choose the fruits of playing with the Jong teams on the second-highest level in the Netherlands. Pablo Rosario and Steven Bergwijn have gained extensive experience within the Eindhoven team. For André Onana, Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong and Donny van de Beek, this was true for the Amsterdam team

2. PSV and Ajax take their financial distance

After the disappointment against AS Trencín, Van Bronckhorst said that he was in favor of Feyenoord not playing in Europe this season, at PSV and Ajax, but the management probably thought the opposite.

Feyenoord had already made a hole in the budget of PSV (6 million euros) and Ajax (23 million euros), but because of the elimination against AS Trencín, he failed for several millions of dollars. The two rivals each receive about 40 million euros to reach the group stage of the Champions League.

In addition, PSV and Ajax probably win the jackpot for several players this summer. Bergwijn, Hirving Lozano, De Ligt and De Jong are valued at more than 50 million euros, while in Feyenoord, the only international international Tonny Vilhena does not get closer.

3. Nearly 30 million euros for mediocre

Of course, Feyenoord wanted to continue after the championship in 2017 and this was reflected in the transfer market. Technical director Martin van Geel pulled the wallet and spent 26.8 million euros in new players, more than the PSV (25.4 million euros) and Ajax (16, 6 million euros).

It did not work well. for Feyenoord. Ridgeciano Haps (6 million euros), Jeremiah St. Fair (4.8 million euros), Sofyan Amrabat (4 million euros), Sam Larsson (4 million euros) ) and Jean-Paul Boëtius (1.5 million euros) have fallen from several Amrabat and Boëtius have already left

It is in favor of Van Geel that in 2017, he managed to take Steven Berghuis for 6.5 million euros in Watford. The striker had been hired among the English middleweights the previous season and had played an important role in the championship with the necessary goals and aids.

4. Satisfied too quickly

"We started well and the game was under control, until St. Juste's red card in the fifth minute was all over, and then we did a good job. "

With these words, Van Bronckhorst frowned in the press room of Johan Cruijff ArenA last Sunday, just after the 3-0 defeat of the classic. This implied that having to run is too uncompromising. And this can never be the intention of a big club.

This also contrasts with the reactions of Ajax players after the victory over Feyenoord. With them, there was a remarkable disappointment. They stumbled after St. Juste's first red card and the digital upgrade was not converted into more goals.

5. Still no new stage

A thorny problem for Feyenoord has been for years what must happen to De Kuip: renovate or move into a brand new stadium? It's like a warm shed. Nobody really wants to burn their fingers. Nevertheless, the second option seems necessary to not stay behind PSV and Ajax.

"As club leaders, staying in the current football temple is no problem, but it is only possible if everyone recognizes that we are playing fifth or sixth place. because that's the reality, "said Van Geel during his New Year's speech in 2013.

We are almost six years old and there is still no white smoke for a new home . Construction will begin in 2020, after which Feyenoord will be able to move into the complex three years later. It has to bring in millions of euros more, even though many fans prefer to leave everything to the old.