Mounir El Hamdaoui

[DavidsSpecs]

Liverpool are keen on taking on Moroccan striker Mounir El Hamdaoui, while Arsenal also wait in the wings on the AZ Alkmaar star. (The Sun)

Remember this guy? All I recall about him is that beautiful bit of skill he did during the Peace Cup. I know it's in The Sun, but wouldn't it be weird if he came back to the league as a fully developed, top drawer striker. No guarantees obviously but he's been doing well abroad. Is this an example of letting a player go too early?

 

[donny1013]

Afonso Alves looked like Samuel Eto'o in the Eredivisie, hasn't exactly done it for Boro. Hamdaoui may be a success back in the EPL, but it's not like he is what we need, a number 9, he is more like JD and Keano.

 

[Warik]

As did Kezman.

 

[3Dnata]

If it weren't for his injuries at Derby I'm sure he'd have saved us a packet in the transfer market- I always rated him.
I don't quite get this Dutch league is rubbish argument - the Dutch produce better players than England.

 

[donny1013]

The 'Dutch' do produce great players. But players like RVN, Huntelaar, Sneijder, Robben, Heitinga, Van der Vaart, de Jong etc all play in other top European leagues. KJHand RVN have showed that they can score a lot in other leagues but then players like Alves and Kezman have been the other side of the coin and have really struggled.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Tall, strong, quick, skillfull, good on the ground and in the air, brings others into play, and no beyond our reach.

Who made the decision to let go of a 19 year old who had obvious technique, who we'd signed for free and received no money for?

Oh yes, everybodies beloved Martin Jol.

(Can't blame Comolli, he wasn't here yet)

 

[RussellYid]

Can we wait until he actually proves himself?

The Dutch league is a nonsense. I take very little note of what happens in Scotland with regards to a player proving his ability. I take even less note about the Eredivisie due to the mountain of players who leave it and prove to be incompetent at best.

It's not as if we let go of Zidane here. He's a player who's had a good season in an inferior league. He's 24, we let him go 3 or 4 years ago. What should we have done with him? Played him week in week out? Over Keane? Defoe? Berbatov?

I'm delighted he's fired them to the league and qualification to the Champions League. But he's linked with Liverpool. David N'Gog, Le Tallec, Sinama Pongolle... Hardly as if Liverpool have a great record picking out young strikers.

And it's The fucking Sun. It means there is a 99.9 percent chance it's absolute bollocks.

 

[SpurSince57]

If it weren't for his injuries at Derby I'm sure he'd have saved us a packet in the transfer market- I always rated him.
I don't quite get this Dutch league is rubbish argument - the Dutch produce better players than England.

Try watching the Dutch league sometime! I watched Ajax v. AZ (without Hammy, who's suspended) on Monday or Tuesday and it was a pretty woeful affair, although it did feature an even funnier penalty than Berbatov's. I think even the top sides would struggle in the EPL, and there are better teams in the Championship and even League One than some of those further down the table.

The Dutch certainly do continue to produce a succession of top-notch players, and there's no contradiction in this. It's just that even the likes of Ajax can't compete with wealthier leagues, so the cream of Dutch players head off abroad. That, I'm afraid, is the result of the way the game's developed in recent years. That great PSV side Hiddink assembled has gradually been dismantled over the past four seasons—CL semi-final in 2004-2005 (and very unlucky not to beat Milan and reach the final), this year bottom of their group with one win and five defeats. I simply can't see a Dutch side competing seriously in either European competition again until there's a major redistribution of wealth, and for those of us who remember the great teams of the past that's a very sad thing.

And that, for me, is why believing that anyone who scores a hatful in the Eredivisie will be a big scorer in the EPL is a triumph of hope over experience. I saw Alves for Heerenveen a few times and he looked absolutely amazing. Southgate obviously thought so, paid £12m or whatever for him (and was apparently forced to flog two or three players in order to pay his wages), and Boro are now deep in the shit as a result of this misplaced confidence.

 

[deselina]

beats me how rvp and vd sar have ended up at arsenal and manchester united while they came from the mickey mouse league that is the eredivisie, bergkamp and overmars for arsenal and stam for manchester united have already shown that they can't compete on this level.

good thing you got rid of robben and ruud eh?

 

[Rumbaldo]

used to watch alot of dutch football but the past 5 years its been getting progressively worse sadly as SS57 says without a redistribution of wealth its not going to get any better.
the Whole Huntelaar situation has left a bitter taste in the dutchies mouth one news paper accused them of being a trading company. We have all been there before!

But i will always have fond memories of the Ajax team that won the 95 champs league and especially the 96 team that sadly lost to Juventus in the final they were a good side to watch a young team as well if i remember correctly.

However there is no Denying as a nation they still produce some quality players. anyone remember the documentary on Ajax youth system that was on years ago and there was the english kid who got there should be more programs like that i enjoyed the one at the fa school of excellence as well.

 

[Kendall]

beats me how rvp and vd sar have ended up at arsenal and manchester united while they came from the mickey mouse league that is the eredivisie, bergkamp and overmars for arsenal and stam for manchester united have already shown that they can't compete on this level.

good thing you got rid of robben and ruud eh?

The league is pretty shit standard though, thats why they all left.

 

[deselina]

euhhhhh not really, more like money wise.

if the money was great, they would've stayed.

reason for me listing all those players is because im really annoyed with all those kezman and alves talks like they were the only high profile players that came from the eredivisie.

 

[deselina]

oh and another thing. most top flight eredivisie clubs will struggle in the championship?

please!

psv will annihilate spurs, let alone az.

i hope you make it into europe and we'll meet eachother in the uefa cup if we don't make it into champion's league this year and you'll see.

arrogant/smug football 'fans' like you really annoy me

eredivisie isnt the only one that is struggling right now, because the money isnt coming in, much like seri a this year.

when countries like ukraine, russia and romania have overcome ligue 1 and other western european leagues than this is obviously a sign meaning the money is better there.

 

[Kendall]

Yeah I think it's a bit silly. There are always going to be risks when taking a player from one club to another, irrespective of leagues, justlook at David Bentley.

If we all took the view that any player scoring for fun in the eredivise or bundesliga would probably do shit in another league we'd never have had some of the best players grace our league. Many said Berbatov was a risk, the new Rebrov they said.....

 

[Kendall]

I disagree about PSV annihilating us. I think we're looking stronger than we were last season, certainly with Palacios in the middle and a settled back 4 and PSV hardly 'battered' us last time, they only scored from a mistake from Gilbert and won on penalties owing to saves from...err....Gomes.

 

[DavidsSpecs]

Truth is, you just can't tell who's going to make it. What I do think though, and I know it's just a little rumour, is that managers like Wenger are a pretty good judge of players, even their ability to adapt. I'm not saying he always gets it right, but were he to sign this kid for example and he turns out to be a star, it would be another one we've let go.

 

[alamo]

Tall, strong, quick, skillfull, good on the ground and in the air, brings others into play, and no beyond our reach.

Who made the decision to let go of a 19 year old who had obvious technique, who we'd signed for free and received no money for?

Oh yes, everybodies beloved Martin Jol.

(Can't blame Comolli, he wasn't here yet)

Bit over the top mate. From what I recall we had him with us for a year but he was restricted to reserve appearances as he wasn't good enough for the first team. We then tried to loan him out to Derby to gain experience but repeated injury kept disrupting his time there.

So, after 2 years at Spurs and still no closer to breaking in to the first team he opted to return to Holland with Willem II. Hardly a prestigious move so it would appear other clubs were equal to us in their assessment of his abilities. Now, after 3 whole years of playing time later he is starting to look the part and is allegedly (papertalk... hmmm) interesting some top teams here.

Don't see what the club (or Jol as you seem to want to be specifically damning of) did particularly wrong?

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Bit over the top mate. From what I recall we had him with us for a year but he was restricted to reserve appearances as he wasn't good enough for the first team. We then tried to loan him out to Derby to gain experience but repeated injury kept disrupting his time there.

So, after 2 years at Spurs and still no closer to breaking in to the first team he opted to return to Holland with Willem II. Hardly a prestigious move so it would appear other clubs were equal to us in their assessment of his abilities. Now, after 3 whole years of playing time later he is starting to look the part and is allegedly (papertalk... hmmm) interesting some top teams here.

Don't see what the club (or Jol as you seem to want to be specifically damning of) did particularly wrong?

I just don't see the logic in letting go on a free someone who has shown at least a bit of potential when there is no risk involved with him. Especially when we let Kanoute go at the same time and ended up with an injury prone Mido and Gregorsz Rasiak.

And yet the likes of Stephen Kelly and Jamie O'Hara, players with very limited ability, actually get a lot of games for us.

 

[Kendall]

Indeed. Perhaps he just needed playing time, but we couldn't have risked him here

 

[riversmonkey]

You could make a similar argument about us letting go of Peter Crouch, fact is you don't know how players will develop and mature. I think there is even an old tale about how the club turned down the chance to sign Zidane.

A lot of posters on here are concerned about letting go of Adel Taraabt, that he might develop into a star, but I honestly can't remember anybody raving about Mounir El Hamdaoui.