Bonds coach Ronald Koeman has publicly excluded Steven Bergwijn, who has moved to Saudi Arabia, from the national team. Now the 26-year-old counters
Ronald Koeman is probably not the only one with at least a mixed opinion of the Pro League in Saudi Arabia and its development, but not everyone is the coach of a national team. And because the former international did not like the transfer of former international Steven Bergwijn from Ajax Amsterdam to Al-Ittihad, Koeman even made his displeasure public.
Why former international? Because the 26-year-old Bergwijn was virtually banished from the Elftal in the same breath by the 61-year-old Bonds coach. “His chapter with the Dutch national team is basically closed,” Koeman said at a press conference on Tuesday – and explained his clear displeasure by saying that ‘when you are 26 years old, your main goal should be sporting and not financial’.
It was an impressive and above all unusually public broadside, to which Bergwijn responded three days later – also publicly in De Telegraaf. “That’s no way to treat players,” complained the offensive man. “He could have called me, he could have listened to my point of view. Instead, I had to hear it from the television. How can he say things like that without talking to me? “
Bergwijn draws the consequences – Koeman also transferred at 26
The 35-time international (eight goals), who played 45 minutes in both the round of 16 and quarter-finals under Koeman at the last European Championship, also cut the tablecloth from his side: “I’ve had enough of someone who deliberately portrays me like this in the media. I’ve always considered it an honor to play for the Dutch team, but I no longer want to under this coach.” Somewhere between amicable separation and war of the roses.
Bergwijn, at least unintentionally, also gave the domestic league another piece of advice, at least in the form of a further reply to Koeman that the competition in Saudi Arabia was “better” than in the Eredivisie. There are significantly more top players playing there.
Koeman, who said that he “would not have made such a decision” at that age, had moved from PSV Eindhoven to FC Barcelona in 1989 at the age of 26, where he became a multiple champion and European Cup winner – as he had already done in the Netherlands. However, there was no comparable nouveau riche alternative at the time.
