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Profiles
Profiles
| Mario
Melchiot |
15 Nov 2000
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| The
tall 24-year-old defender was born in Amsterdam and brought up by his
mother. She came to Holland from the former Dutch colony of Surinam (at
the top right hand corner of South America) where many of Holland's top
footballers hail from. The streets of Amsterdam were his first footballing
school and was/remains an important factor in the quality of
football/footballers that Holland produces. Even when a player is training
with a club he still goes out to knock a ball about with neighbours and
friends. The street gave him the basics and graduation to Ajax's reknowned
youth training gave him the competitive edge needed to make it
professionally. Every year there was a test to pass, a report which had to
be good if you wanted to be noticed. His mother provided the security,
guidance and support to keep him focussed on his schooling alongside his
football. By the time he got a place in the first team at Ajax the club
were losing players fast to foreign clubs. After 3 seasons playing for
Ajax he started to feel that he wasn't progressing as quickly as expected
and started to look around for a new challenge. He knew he wanted to play
in a team where there plenty of internationals to stimulate his
advancement as a player. He'd been following Chelsea ever since Ruud
Gullitt approached him as his contract with Ajax drew to an end. Even when
Gullitt had left Chelsea the new man Vialli knew him as the 19 year-old
who'd been lucky enough to play against his old club Juventus in the
European Cup final in 1996. Vialli made sure that Mario knew how important
he was for Chelsea's future, made him feel welcome, so that the decision
to go to London was an easy one. The passion to be found in the English
Premier League is the one factor that sets it apart
from even his experiences at Ajax. The rough and tumble of life on
the pitch and in the boardroom have been part of the short time he has
spent at Chelsea. As soon as he was off the plane he was off the pitch
thanks to a leg injury serious enough to put him out of action for almost
12 of the last 18 months. Chelsea had to wait until last April to see what
they had missed - a tall, agile and athletic defender ready to move
forward. The way back has been long and hard - a test of discipline, both
mental and physical. Watching his new club do so well in Europe must have
been hard to watch but he was able to help them win in the FA Cup
final and was elated to score a goal in the Charity Shield match (enjoying
the atmosphere of Wembley's last days). Vialli's sacking came as a shock
but under Claudio Rainieri he is back to playing at the right of a back
three - a system he knows well from his years at Ajax. Last month he
got his first, much coveted cap for Holland and joins his Chelsea
colleagues Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Winston Bogarde against Spain
tonight.
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| The 30
year old striker has a successful career behind him - its been a long
climb from the amateur ranks to clubs in the Dutch province of Brabant (where
he comes from) such as NAC and RBC, then a move abroad to Scotland and a
spell with Glasgow Celtic (where he was Scotland's top scorer), a not so
happy time at Nottingham Forest (although he was one of the top scorers in
England), back to Holland and Vitesse, and now Benfica and Portugal. He
has grown in stature through the years and his reputation has too - after
all he scores 20 - 30 goals on a regular basis so he must be doing
something right. Pierre is good with his head, a mean free kick specialist
and is not afraid of penalties. While in England he gained the nickname
P-Air because of his heady skills! He is one of the many Dutch forwards
who've been snapped up by clubs all over Europe for their ability to score
goals. Vitesse brought him back to Holland at the
right moment - he'd been pretty unhappy at Nottingham Forest and wasn't
experiencing much footballing pleasure on the pitch there. He was the
Dutch Premier Division's no.2 top scorer last year which again generated
interest from abroad. Vitesse had paid 6.5 million Euros for him and there
wereand honest discussions about his market value if he were to
leave Vitesse. Did the 25 goals he'd scored for the club (as he says
himself - not in the English Premier League, not in the Serie A but in
Holland) make him suddenly worth twice as much money? For example, during
Pierre's time at Forest Patrick Kluivert went from Ajax to Barcelona for
10 million Euros, which gave the manager the bright idea to set a going
price of 17.5 million for him - crazy or what? His
ability to take an objective look at his value to a club shapes his
thoughts on the transfer system as a whole and its pros and cons. The
footballing world has known nothing else and clubs base their financial
plans on the market value of their players. Still he thinks a change will
be good as he has personal experience of transfers not happening because
of the size of the fee being asked. Eventually Benfica paid 7.5 million Euros
for him and he now enjoys a salary considerably higher than it was at
Vitesse - a fitting reward for all the bad times. He is happy to spend the
next 3 years in Portugal, knowing that an invitation to football for
Barcelona or Real is unlikely to come. He remains philosophical despite
the fact that his experiences in Portugal have not lived up to his
expectations - too many comings and goings of trainers and players
have led to a chaotic situation with a lack of clear leadership on and off
the pitch. He was promised a 4-4-2 system (one where he is at his best)
with him upfront alongside Nuno Gomes, but only a week after arriving
Gomes went to Fiorentina and a switch to 4-5-1 was made. Then came trainer
Mourinho and a 4-3-3 system where he is often on his own. A lack of team
spirit and camaraderie (the language barrier doesn't help) doesn't help
him to feel more at home or the team to achieve better results. The
feeling of sometimes being a pawn in the hands of clubs and managers have
not made him cynical and he remains grateful for what has come his way -
his first Orange shirt hangs alongside his Celtic and NAC shirts in his
father's office and the memories of his on pitch efforts for Holland are,
of course, priceless!
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| Jordi
Cruijff - Living in the Shadow |
14 August 2000
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| The
son of football's Player of the Century has been back in Holland preparing
for the coming season of Spanish football with his current club Deportivo
Alaves. Pretty much a forgotten footballer in his own country - mostly
remembered for the few appearances he made for Holland - he has not
been the luckiest man in football, having spent four unhappy years at
Manchester United being plagued with fitness problems. Just before moving
to Manchester he underwent surgery on his knee which almost cost him his
career. Further surgery was needed to correct the mistakes made in the
first operation - the beginning of a long, dark tunnel of injuries
broken only by fleeting appearances in a red shirt. Although other English
clubs were interested in the talented Dutchman ( a deal with West Ham
stranded on a sandbank of paperwork) the choice he eventually made for the
Basque side Alvez offers him weekly football in a team who were the
scourge of the Spanish Premier league last season and the chance to play
against the top teams of European football this season (Alvez play
for the first time in their history in Europe). At 26 he knows the coming
year in Spain will determine whether or not there is truly to be a Jordi
revival. If he succeeds in showing the football watching world his
undoubted capabilities it could mean a new lease of life for
him and the chance to break free of the past.
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