PATRICK KLUIVERT is driven to one day become a Premier League manager.
As he sat down with SunSport to assess Holland’s chances at the Euros, he now sees everything through the lens of a coach.
Patrick Kluivert plans to become a Premier League manager in the future
GettyKluivert says ‘things need to fit like a glove’ if the Netherlands are to win Euro 2024[/caption]
Kluivert was one of the finest strikers of his generation, scoring the winner in the 1995 Champions League final and jointly winning the Golden Boot at Euro 2000.
The former Newcastle striker, 47, has occupied several different roles since retiring — including sporting director at Paris Saint-Germain and academy director at Barcelona.
Speaking in the Catalan city, Kluivert said: “I am waiting for a good opportunity and a good project. I am ready.
“I’m eager to show the world that I’m capable of doing big things in coaching.
“I like to have challenges and the Premier League would be fantastic.
“What kind of experience did Xabi Alonso have? You need to have an opportunity and what he did with Bayer Leverkusen is unreal.
“He had only trained the second team of Sociedad and then got the opportunity to train a first team in the Bundesliga and won the title.”
Kluivert, who was Louis van Gaal’s assistant when Holland reached the 2014 World Cup semi-finals, does not deviate from an attacking mindset.
EURO 2024 FREE BETS AND OFFERS
He said: “I like to dominate the game, play high-pressure, offensive football.
“I like to have possession of the ball. I came from the Ajax youth and Barcelona have the same philosophy . . . attack is the best defence.”
Patrick Kluivert’s career statistics
Ajax, 1991-97 – 52 goals in 100 appearances
AC Milan, 1997-98 – 9 goals in 33 appearances
Barcelona, 1998-2004 – 122 goals in 257 appearances
Newcastle, 2004-05 – 13 goals in 37 appearances
Valencia, 2005-06 – 2 goals in 16 appearances
PSV, 2006-07 – 3 goals in 21 appearances
Lille, 2007-08 – 4 goals in 14 appearances
Netherlands, 1994-2004 – 40 goals in 79 caps
Honours – Champions League, La Liga, Uefa Super Cup, 3x Eredivisie, 2x Dutch Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup
Kluivert, whose last job was as boss of Turkish side Adana Demirspor, knows his country must again knit together a team of individuals if they are to have any hope of emulating their 1988 Euros triumph on German soil.
He added: “If we have the confidence and can show the opponent we’re strong as a team, we can win it. But things need to fit like a glove.
“At the moment you have better teams like Spain, Italy, France, Portugal and England. We have to fight against them as a team.
“Holland have great individual quality and players who play in the highest competitions in the world. But they need to be solid and determined.
“It’s not about the best players but the best team, and if they stick together individual qualities can come out.
“Football is a total performance. Mentally it can help to know they already won it in Germany to return and do that extra thing.”
Kluivert, who scored 40 times in 79 outings for Holland, despairs at their lack of world-class strikers after the heady days of Marco van Basten, Ruud van Nistelrooy and himself.
Brian Brobbey and Memphis Depay are the main men in attack, with Cody Gakpo coming from deeper positions to score goals.
GettyKluivert scored six Premier League goals for Newcastle during the 2004/05 season[/caption]
Holland used to wow the crowds with their Total Football. And the philosophy still has not changed despite a lack of attacking talent.
Ahead of their opener against Poland, Kluivert said: “The balance is now more towards midfielders and defenders who play in big competitions.
“In my day the focus was more on midfielders and attackers. We had van Nistelrooy and after me there was Robin van Persie.
“When I started out I looked up to Van Basten, the best striker in history. In this team, it’s not that you can choose a lot of No 9s, that’s a pity.
“Brobbey is the right person at the moment and Depay will be the target man if match fit. Gakpo showed his importance at the World Cup in Qatar.
“The difference is in my time we played a lot on the streets — that’s where I progressed. Not only in Ajax’s academy but on the streets of Amsterdam.
“Nowadays a lot of players are hooked on social media, which we didn’t have in my time. And it was a good thing.
“In this team no one can score a goal like Dennis Bergkamp against Argentina in 1998.”
GettyThe 47-year-old scored 40 goals in 79 caps for the Netherlands as a player[/caption]
Holland have a wealth of expensive defenders but it remains to be seen if the likes of Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, Spurs’ Micky van de Ven, Manchester City’s Nathan Ake and Bayern Munich’s Matthijs de Ligt can match the bulletproof back four of Stam, De Boer, Van Bronckhorst and Reiziger from Kluivert’s heyday.
He said: “If you look at Ake, Van Dijk and De Ligt they are fantastic but need to defend more as a block. Van Dijk is the captain of the team and doing well at Liverpool, while De Ligt is a leader and great player.”
It still pains Kluivert that his international career ended without a trophy.
He said: “The 1998 side was the best Dutch national team we’ve seen — even better than 1974.
“We had a balanced team with fantastic qualities, playing the football that we did and winning against Argentina.
“We played incredibly well also against Brazil and we would have won the 1998 World Cup had we beaten them.
“In 2000 we missed two penalties against Italy. It was in our own country so it was doubly bitter.
“Still now when I talk about Euro 2000 it hurts. But 1998 is the biggest regret. Losing on penalties is devastating.”
Kluivert famously joined AC Milan on a free transfer from Ajax in 1997.
So one final question — how much does he think he would he be worth in today’s market? With a smile, he said: “£100million? I hope so… I was quite big.”