Scott Musgrave
Much like Barcelona under Louis van Gaal in the late 90s and early 2000s, Bernd Schuster, before his departure from Real Madrid, developed a minor obsession with Dutch players. This continued under Juande Ramos with the signing of Klass-Jan Huntelaar who was added to summer signing Rafael van der Vaart, and fellow compatriots Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, Royston Drenthe and Wesley Sneijder.
The first to arrive at the Santiago Bernebeu was the legendary Ruud van Nistelrooy, who after a fall-out with Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United moved to Madrid for €18M. With Real having somewhat of a dirth of attacking options at the time, van Nistelrooy walked in with the goals and finishing ability needed to take La Liga by storm. With Raul on the decline after many years of competent service and Ronaldo on the way out, it was van Nistelrooy under Fabio Capello that essentially propelled Real to the title on his own. In his first season he notched up an incredible 25 goals to come first in the Spanish scoring tables and finished second only to Roma’s Francesco Totti in the European Golden Boot stats for 2006/07. With a respectable return the following season van Nistelrooy found himself sidelined for the 2008/09 season with a recurrent knee injury.
The next Oranje to hit Los Blancos was none other than the sort after Arjen Robben. Robben’s talents had been wasted at Chelsea where he was in and out of the team for long periods of time, with Joe Cole, Damien Duff and laterly Andriy Shevchenko often taking up the winger/support striker roles ahead of him. However, being one of Ramon Calderon’s top targets after Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, it was only a matter of time before the injury-prone Robben would be presented to the Madrista fans.
In the summer of 2007 Robben made the move for €36.55M. Since that time, when fit, the winger has been first choice on the left-flank for Real, constantly proving his pedigree as a top class player. In the current season Robben practically commanded games against Valencia and Villarreal earning man of the match honours in both matches. The Dutchman has proved his value under any coach when fit and he will be a big player for Real Madrid and the Oranje for years to come.
Wesley Sneijder also made a summer 2007 move from Ajax to join Robben and van Nistelrooy to continue the Dutch flavour in the Spanish capital. Sneijder at the time was considered a substitute option by Real who had not been able to snare bigger targets in Brazilian duo Kaka and Diego. As such not much was expected of the €27M purchase and he was definitely not expected to excel after joining up with the star studded team. Sneijder’s early 2007/08 form was sensational, scoring a goal every other game and setting up half a dozen others. He was a revelation in midfield and was ordained as the form player of Europe at the time. His explosion onto the scene made even the Real Madrid management perk up as he fired in free-kick after free-kick. The dead-ball specialist did however die down in his fervent play but had firmly established himself in the Madrid midfield, promptly restricting long-serving Guti to the bench.
It is so rare these days for a player to come straight out of the Eredivisie and make a big impact at a club of the stature of Real Madrid but Sneijder proved that that if the quality is there it can be transferred to a big ger league. It is only a good thing for aspiring footballers in the Eredivisie that a big club move could be just around the corner.
The last of the Dutch signings in that 2007 summer transfer window was that of Royston Drenthe; a precocious talent that dazzled the best Europe talent with his intelligent runs, passing and dribbling at the 2007 U21 European Championships. Coming out of a talented generation of Feyenoord academy graduates, Drenthe sufficiently impressed clubs around the continent to ensure bids were forthcoming for the potential world beater’s signature, including from Chelsea and Barcelona. It was though Madrid that swiped the young star for a slightly inflated €14M fee.
Drenthe very much had his ups and downs. Not having as much experience as his comrades counted against him as he very rarely featured after the first month or two of the 2007/08 season. Restricted to a few cameos off the bench and some injury cover, the bright light of Royston Drenthe was fading under the floodlights of the Bernebeu. It was also the emergence of fellow left-back/midfielder Marcelo that led to the Dutchman’s demise. After being linked with a loan move to several clubs, Drenthe emerged from the ashes to start competing for a first-team spot. Although now not all that prevalent in the side, he has broken in and matured to at least feature on the bench on a regular basis. Yet to be capped for the Oranje, Drenthe still has a lot to prove to Holland and the Real Madrid faithful.
Following the induction of the Dutch trio a further duo was to join for the 2008/09 season, with Rafael van der Vaart joining in the summer from German club Hamburger SV for an estimated €13M. Things started brightly for van der Vaart as he starred in many of the opening friendly fixtures at the beginning of the season, scoring goals and setting up just as many. It looked as though the playmaker would be quite a coup as he showed some of the form of old that saw him recognised as Europe’s up and coming talent in 2001.
However, due to some disfavour from Schuster and later Juande Ramos, his playing time has been restricted with a move to Chelsea mooted to be on the horizon. Although making 22 appearances this term and showing reasonable promise, Juande Ramos has completely overlooked the former Ajax man. The future is uncertain for the Heemskerk native but surely he has the quality to force his way into Ramos’ plans.
The most recent addition to the Oranje Merengues is the eventual successor to Ruud van Nistelrooy- the ever dangerous Klass-Jan Huntelaar. With a phenomenal strike-rate for Ajax and the Oranje it was only a matter of time before he moved onwards to a bigger club. Juventus, Barcelona, Liverpool and Roma were all chasing the hit-man’s signature but it was Real Madrid that swooped as Oranje team mate van Nistelrooy was struck down with an injury that would rule him out for the rest of the season. It was in the January transfer window that Real Madrid pounced with an initial €20M offer for the man that scored 76 goals in 92 appearances for the Amsterdammers.
Although preferably wanting to wait until the end of the season to make his move as not to disrupt the Eredivisie campaign, the deal was made and he was presented to the press along with Lassana Diarra from Portsmouth to help continue Real’s La Liga and Champions League quest. However, due to a registration problem Huntelaar was not registered for Europe’s top competition , much to the annoyance of the fans after their lack of firepower saw them dominated by Liverpool in the Round of 16.
At first, Huntelaar was out of favour, with Gonzalo Higuain and Raul being the preferred striking option ahead of him in attack. But in true style the ex-Ajax man was soon showing his massive potential having scored eight goals in 12 matches at time of writing. Truly another success story from the Eredivisie as his goalscoring pedigree more or less continues in the same vein as it did in Holland. Also with van Nistelrooy retiring from the national squad the main striking duties have fallen to Huntelaar who has picked up the reigns magnificently by hitting a ration of 0.78 goals a game for Holland in 2008.
What is it that has attracted Real Madrid to make such a prominent Oranje connection? It was seemingly bizarre enough when Louis van Gaal used a similar approach with Barcelona. Is it simply a testament to where Dutch football is at the moment? That is quite possible. All the Dutch players at Real Madrid would arguably command a squad place at any of the major clubs around Europe. Maybe some thanks should go to Marco van Basten who saw a lot of talent in these players and made them the basis of his Oranje squad from 2005 to 2008. Perhaps it was that international experience that enhanced their development and made them so attractive to Real Madrid.
In any case the obsession will probably come to an end, unless of course the Dutch win the next World Cup, then what price an Oranje starting eleven at Real Madrid!
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