A-team was discussing the rich tradition of Dutch football, and we were wondering who you (and maybe your compatriots) consider the greatest Dutch player of all time? The conversation was kind of inspired by an Arsenal fan on here who once said Bergkamp was his pick. I don't know if that thread is still around, but maybe I should look for it and see if you commented in there.
As much as I dislike the guy the GOAT dutch player really isnt up for debate. Its Johan Cruijff. If you want to tier it up first tier: Johan Cruijff second tier: Marco van Basten (might have been close if he wasnt injured pretty much his whole career, didnt play a single game painfree from 20 onwards) third tier: Johan Neeskens, Ruud Gullit, Dennis Bergkamp, Ronald Koeman, Johnny Rep, Faas Wilkes fourth tier: Coen Moelijn, Frank Rijkaard, van Breukelen a few current/just retired guys(Cocu & vd Sar come to mind) but it gets a bit iffy from here on in. But the gap between tier 1 and tier 2 and subsequently tier 2 and tier 3 are pretty big
Thanks for the response, buddy. I told Chile and Noles I thought Cruyff, Van Basten, and Gullit were clearly the top 3. I imagine most people would say that Cruyff was the best, but I don't know that I could put he and Van Basten in different tiers. I mean, Van Basten was named European player of the year three times (as was Cruyff), and that was with an injury plagued career that was essentially over at 28... The country has produced some truly great players regardless. I'm proud to say several of them have played for my favorite club, and I'm even more proud to say that the one with the most swagger of all still wears the red and black.
As much as van Basten was a great player he did not have the ability to take over games in the way Cruijff could. On top of that Cruijff has really altered/revolutionised the way the game is being played whilst van Basten was 'just' the second best player of his entire generation.
Yeah, Van Basten was the first name that came to mind for me. I didn't expect for you to say there was huge gap between Cruijff and Marco though. I would have said they were pretty close in terms of ability, but you would definitely know Dutch footballers better than me.