Netherlands supervisor Ronald Koeman has stated Steven Bergwijn prioritised monetary ambition over his personal sporting aspirations after finishing a €25 million ($27.6m) transfer to Saudi Professional League aspect Al Ittihad, including he won’t contemplate the ahead for worldwide responsibility for the foreseeable future.
Bergwijn’s transfer from Ajax to Al Ittihad was introduced on Monday, and it has angered Koeman who stated the switch is completely different to the case of Georginio Wijnaldum when he left PSG for Al Ettifaq in September 2023.
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“Georginio Wijnaldum as soon as went that means as a result of he had an issue at Paris Saint-Germain,” Koeman stated. “He may solely go to that nation to play soccer till January. In Bergwijn’s case is that he goes on the age of 26, sporting ambition doesn’t prevail. Not everybody thinks, thankfully, the identical means. I feel if you end up 26 the principle ambition must be sporting and never monetary, however these are decisions gamers make.”
Bergwijn will play beneath Laurent Blanc in Saudi Arabia in a staff that features N’Golo Kanté, Karim Benzema, Fabinho, Houssem Aouar, Predrag Rajkovic and Moussa Diaby.
Koeman stated Bergwijn was not duty-bound to take up the Saudi provide.
“He may have stayed at Ajax, could not he? And I feel they pay OK at Ajax too. However sure, it is his alternative,” he stated.
“I have not been in that state of affairs myself. I may go to Barcelona. I feel if Bergwijn may have gone to Barcelona, he would not have gone to Saudi Arabia both.”
The transfer seems to have harm Bergwijn’s possibilities of including to his 35 caps for the Netherlands.
“The ebook is principally closed for him, although,” Koeman stated of Bergwijn’s worldwide possibilities. “He has not contacted me about this. I feel he is aware of how I take into consideration this.”
In the meantime, captain Virgil van Dijk has dedicated his future to the Netherlands till the 2026 World Cup a minimum of, Koeman confirmed on Tuesday.
Koeman stated he flew to Liverpool to have face-to-face talks with Van Dijk.
“I believed it was so essential to go to him to see and really feel with him: are you going to provide it your all for an additional two years on the highest degree and do you continue to see a future for your self? And he does. And I do the identical with him. All doubt is gone, he simply goes on,” Koeman stated.
“He admitted he didn’t attain the extent you’ll count on from him as a participant on the European Championship. As captain, I feel he did an important job. However maybe because of this, he put an excessive amount of vitality into others quite than into himself.”
