PSV Eindhoven seek a three-peat while Ajax and Feyenoord enter the season with legendary former players in charge
This has been a strange summer for watchers of the Dutch transfer market. While previous off-seasons have been marked by Dutch clubs– especially the Big Three of PSV Eindhoven, Ajax and Feyenoord– selling their prized assets to rapacious buyers from England, Italy or Spain with the goal of turning a net profit, this summer has featured the leading Dutch clubs in buying mode. Both PSV and Feyenoord have broken their incoming transfer records to sign winger Ruben van Bommel and midfielder Sem Steijn respectively, while Ajax have so far resisted selling key players Josip Sutalo and Kenneth Taylor despite concrete interest for both.
This new trend points to the changed position occupied by the Netherlands’ largest clubs in the European footballing hierarchy and their desire to stay there. The Eredivisie currently sits in sixth place in the UEFA coefficient rankings, which allows the league’s top two teams to qualify directly for the Champions League and its third-placed side to enter the Champions League qualifying rounds. That ranking is a huge improvement from 2019, when the Netherlands was mired in fourteenth, and is largely the result of Dutch clubs’ successful European runs in the 2021/22 season.
The coefficient points from that season, however, will disappear at the end of this campaign, and with Portugal and Belgium close behind the Eredivisie runs the risk of losing one of its Champions League tickets. Given the importance of Champions League revenue to their bottom line, the Big Three seem to have chosen the philosophy of defence through attack: spending now to ensure the golden goose continues laying her eggs in years to come.
PSV are perhaps the best reflection of the new transfer mindset. Coming off back-to-back Eredivisie titles, Peter Bosz’s side has had to replace a quintet of starters this offseason, with Noa Lang and Malik Tillman sold and Walter Benitez, Olivier Boscagli and Luuk de Jong all departing after the expiration of their contracts. In response, PSV have signed a series of reinforcements from Europe’s biggest leagues. Yarek Gasiorowski has arrived from Valencia to replace Boscagli at centre back, while former Bundesliga stalwarts Alassane Pléa and Kiliann Sildillia will provide depth at striker and right back respectively. PSV have also re-signed Ivan Perisic, arguably their most important player down the stretch last season. Bosz has called Perisic a “model professional” and “a joy to work with”, and the 36-year-old Croat’s leadership skills will be leaned on heavily this season following captain De Jong’s departure.
Ajax and Feyenoord, PSV’s closest challengers for the title, will both be helmed by club legends relatively new to management. As late as mid-April, Ajax looked sure to secure their first title since 2022, leading PSV by nine points with five matches to play, before a four-match winless run allowed PSV to take charge. Yet even when they were league leaders Ajax’s tactics under Francesco Farioli were criticized as being too defensive, with the Italian seen as unfaithful to the holy cause of possession which has long defined the Amsterdam club’s style.
Farioli has since been replaced by John Heitinga, the former Dutch international who last season was Arne Slot’s assistant at Liverpool. Heitinga, himself a product of the Ajax academy, is expected to give young players a chance to perform; the 17-year-old defender Aaron Bouwman has been a regular presence in the lineup during pre-season. That youth movement has been complimented by the arrivals of Oscar Gloukh (from RB Salzburg) and Ko Itakura (Borussia Mönchengladbach), two players with Champions League experience who can provide guidance as Ajax play in Europe’s elite competition for the first time in three years.
Feyenoord face a battle to reach the Champions League in the first place. Having finished third last season, Feyenoord must survive two qualifying rounds to reach the competition’s league phase and rake in its millions. The Rotterdam club are managed by Robin van Persie, who took over last February following Brian Priske’s mid-season sacking. Van Persie, a Rotterdam native who played two stints with Feyenoord, was appointed despite having spent less than a full season in management at Heerenveen, where his unchecked attacking evangelism had won plaudits but also produced several ugly losses, including a 9-1 reverse against AZ Alkmaar. Yet Van Persie has shown a willingness to adapt, and towards the end of last season showed a pragmatic streak as Feyenoord gritted out a series of close wins.
While the ever-present defender David Hancko has left for Atlético Madrid and winger Igor Paixao has joined Olympique Marseille, Feyenoord have spent heavily to replace those stalwarts. Steijn, last season’s Eredivisie top scorer, joined from FC Twente for a club-record €10 million, and the club have also invested in Porto’s Goncalo Borges, Sheffield United defender Anel Ahmedhodzic and FC Groningen midfielder Luciano Valente. Equally importantly, winger Anis Hadj Moussa, good for 11 goals last campaign, recently signed an improved deal amidst strong interest from abroad.
There is notable ambition amongst the Eredivisie’s upwardly-mobile middle class. Go Ahead Eagles, the delightfully-named outfit from Deventer, won last season’s KNVB Cup to secure their first-ever major trophy, and will be playing in the league phase of this season’s Europa League. Paul Simonis, the architect of that cup success, has since left to manage VfL Wolfsburg, but his replacement Melvin Boel, previously of second-tier FC Dordrecht, will maintain Go Ahead’s possession-based approach this campaign. The core of Go Ahead’s cup-winning team has remained intact, and the Deventer club were less than 15 minutes away from shocking PSV in the Dutch Super Cup before two late goals turned fortunes in the Eindhoven club’s favour.
NEC Nijmegen, KNVB Cup runners-up two seasons ago, have also appointed a preacher of the attacking gospel in Dick Schreuder. Schreuder, who replaces long-serving manager Rogier Meijer, is known for his unrelenting commitment to attacking football, and professes to “get nervous when [his] team stays too long in their own half.” Schreuder most recently managed in Spain’s Segunda División with Castellón, and his former player at Castellón Jetro Willems– a Dutch international with 22 caps who spent time at Newcastle United and Eintracht Frankfurt– has followed Schreuder to NEC, a sign of the club’s ambition. NEC have a hint of the unknown: as midfielder Tjarron Chery put it, “we don’t yet know this playing style in the Netherlands.” At the very least, it won’t be dull.
The Eredivisie’s three promoted sides– FC Volendam, Excelsior and Telstar– have dealt with a different problem this offseason: namely, replacing their plastic pitches with real grass. Natural grass fields are mandated in the Eredivisie starting this season, placing a double burden on the promoted clubs of having to pay both for improvements to their stadiums while also upgrading their squads to be seaworthy in the top flight. Telstar in particular are an interesting case. Back in the Eredivisie for the first time since 1978, Telstar long had one of the smallest operating budgets in the second division, and had rarely been in the promotion picture before last season. Their leading scorer in last season’s promotion push, Youssef el Kachati, went to NEC this summer; his replacement, Milan Zonneveld, arrived from amateur club Quick Boys. Surviving on a shoestring this season would arguably be even more impressive than last year’s promotion.
Pre-Season Predictions
Champions: PSV Eindhoven
Champions League: Feyenoord, Ajax
European Playoffs: AZ Alkmaar, FC Twente, FC Utrecht, NEC Nijmegen
Relegation: Fortuna Sittard, NAC Breda, Telstar
Inthehalfspace 