Netherlands boss Frank de Boer believes you have to be playing at your club to come in with a chance of playing at the European Championships and uses Ryan Babel as an example.
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De Boer was asked about Jasper Cillessen during his press conference on Tuesday. The goalkeeper is benched by Valencia and had to pull out of the Oranje squad through injury.
He will be replaced by Marco Bizot and Tim Krul, with De Boer hinting that it may be difficult for Cillessen if he cannot get regular game time, “We have to wait and see how he gets back. He was already on the bench, I hope he will get back to playing soon, but after an injury that might be a bit more difficult.
“They often don’t have a second team that you can participate in. It is a difficult situation, especially for Jasper of course. I know in terms of character he will do everything he can to get it up to scratch as soon as possible, but it is clear that it is difficult.”
De Boer was asked if a player must be playing at his club to come into contention for the European Championship squad, “If you have not played for four months before that, that is a problem, that seems to me to be yes.
“I think most guys know that themselves. If you want to experience the European Championship, you have to show a certain level continuously. Most of them play at their club, but the others also know themselves: Maybe I should make a transfer right now. I did that myself in 2004 by going from Galatasaray to Glasgow Rangers, because I wanted to show my last trick in Portugal.”
De Boer then used Ryan Babel as an example, “Nobody could take that away from me, I now have that feeling with Ryan Babel, for example. He does everything to be at the European Championship. I think that’s so beautiful to see, I can really enjoy it. I am convinced that he can play an important role, not only in the field but also in the player group. You have to have guys like that, who think: I must and will be there. “
This is a joke like all Netherlands managers since van Gaal. He didn’t call any old slow and washed up players. Good luck winning anything using players too poor for Eredivisie like Babel (terminated loan by Ajax last season as he was terrible). Can you imagine Spain or France call up some poor guy from Turkish league too weak for Eredivisie?
So that explains why Babel is in the team..“Nobody could take that away from me, I now have that feeling with Ryan Babel”.. FDB is seeing himself in Babel. It is not a good sign if coach selecting players based on personal choices rather than performance.