Lukin

As a Feyenoord fan it's fun to see how you guys rate Clasie. He's an awesome player, but in all fairness: I wouldn't buy him if I where you. Clasie mostly thinks offensive, has a decent technique and has great positional awareness. Unfortunatly he also has one huge weakness: he's quite small and lacks physique. I don't think he's build for the Premier League. If Feyenoord decides to sell him, he'd be better of with a Spanish team.

Ajax is 'our' big rival, but unlike a lot of other fans, I don't hate them or anything like that. I just want to see a nice game of football with, hopefully, Feyenoord at the winning end. Feyenoords youth academy has won the Rinus Michels award 5 years in a row (awarded to the best youth academy of the land). Ajax' youth system is really good aswell, they had their speedbumps the last couple of years that led to less players making the first team, but it appears they're on the right track again with some really good talents on the verge of making their debut (Nouri comes to mind, a player that will probably become worldclass). I guess both academies are really close in quality atm. @Olallana. Yeah, we will have a hard time against Besiktas. Especially seeing they're spending millions to strengthening their squad (Demba Ba). But I guess it's just something we will have to live with, even if that means playing EL. Martins Indi and De Vrij (if he leaves) can easily be replaced with decent youth players (Kongolo/Van Beek). Janmaat and Pellè are a lot harder to replace. Especially Pellè will be missed, we deffo need to get a replacement for him. @Angelman. Watching your team perform really well with mostly homegrown players is awesome. But as you say, the lads have to ready for it. You can't just throw in youngsters just to play youngsters. But if they're good enough, they're old enough. Luckily Koeman is a coach that dares to put these kids in the field. Although he didn't have a choice the last couple of seasons seeing there wasn't enough money to buy anyone anyway. I'm anxious to see what he's going to do at a club that does have money. ps. Can only post 3 posts a day, so can't reply to everyone.

From the old topic, but still wanted to reply on it. I'm happy we have some friends that like to help 'us', but something tells me Feyenoord isn't going to help you guys develop your players. Feyenoord's youth system is probably one of the best in Europe (top 10 at least). I don't think it would be an added value for us to get some english Actually, Feyenoord is one of the most financially healthy clubs in holland since we sold some players this summer. No we're not going to buy expensive players, the team rather tries do develop its own players. Although it will probably take another year or 2 to get back to full strength after this transfer window.

Well, both had a decent season and made the dutch world cup squad, so it's quite logical that there is interest for them. But I don't expect either of them to leave this season. Feyenoord already rejected a bid from FC Porto on Clasie and will only sell him for the jackpot. Kongolo wants to stay at Feyenoord and is expected to sign a new contract. De Vrij is the last 'big' player I expect to leave Feyenoord this summer. But as I said earlier, I don't know if De Vrij and Koeman worked on their differences, so I would be surprised if he actually ends up at Southampton. ManU, Lazio, Liverpool and Arsenal are also still being named as possible future teams for De Vrij. Back to Clasie and Kongolo: I wouldn't buy either of them if you had the opportunity. Don't get me wrong, they're great players, but I think the Premier League is too physical for Clasie. I think he would be better of in the Primera Division. Kongolo still needs to gain more muscle before he's ready to battle the typical english big forwards. I'm convinced he will end up with a big foreign team*, just not yet. *Manchester City comes to mind, as they signed his younger brothers Rodney and Fidele out of the Feyenoord academy.

Well, it wasn't the fact that he was doing extra training that ****ed him off, it was that Feyenoord wasn't consulted about it.

In Holland we have totally different standards. It's more important for defenders to have a good technique and passing movement than actually being able to take out your opponent with physique. Players like De Vrij and Vlaar found out their physique wasn't good enough to dominate strong foreign strikers while playing in the Dutch national team. Feyenoord rather wants to focus on the technique-part, so they secretly started extra workouts with a personal trainer.

I would be rather surprised if De Vrij signed for Southampton (Soushampten as we dutch like to call it). Last season Koeman stripped away De Vrij's captaincy and giving it to Pellè after finding out he was doing extra training with a personal trainer, unknowingly of Feyenoord. This apparantly caused quite a rift between the two. Rumors in Holland are that Feyenoord is still waiting for Man. United to make a bid.