Koeman questions Vitesse-Chelsea deal
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has suggested his former club Vitesse Arnhem have lost some of their identity after entering into a relationship with Premier League champions Chelsea that sees them accept a host of loan players each season.
Vitesse could field four Chelsea youngsters in their Europa League third qualifying round tie against Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium on Thursday, with the Dutch club being used by the Blues to give their rising stars first team experience.
Isaiah Brown, Lewis Baker, Nathan and Danilo Pantic are on loan at Vitesse from Chelsea this season and Koeman has admitted he is unconvinced by the business deal that could have a direct impact on his own side’s Europa League ambitions.
“It was a great experience for me to work at Vitesse,” Koeman said, as he reflected on his time at the club at the turn of the century. “At that time, Vitesse was growing.”
“After that, the club was a little bit more down and now it’s in a new situation in the club because they have an owner who is connected to Chelsea, but it seems to me like people have lost a connection with the club since this agreement has been in place.
“Every season, they have a different team now. It looks difficult for the manager because you start every season with a new team and that’s not ideal.
“It is difficult to have really the spirit in the team, I think, because all the young players come to play, but they still like to go back to Chelsea. I don’t know if I can work in that. I don’t know.
“In my time, we played in front of 25,000, 26,000 people every home game and now if they play against Ajax, PSV or Feyenoord, there is 20,000 or 22,000 maximum.
“Maybe the people lost a little bit of the feeling with the club because it is not really like before. I don’t know. That’s from a distance.
“What we know is we face a very difficult tie and we have to do all we can to have a good first leg performance because Vitesse are always strong on their home pitch.”
Koeman has encouraged his Southampton players to embrace their appearance in the Europa League, which was earned after their impressive seventh-place finish in the Premier League last season.
“For Southampton, this is a new situation, a new experience for the players, the club and the fans,” Koeman added. “I’m not worried about playing in Europe and playing in the Premier League because I believe in the qualities of the players, the spirit of the players and to do it well in both competitions.
“I have the experience of coaching teams in the league and then playing in the Champions League. That is one of the reasons why I have a full and strong squad with balance of the team to manage both competitions.
“We didn’t let as many players leave as last season which is very important. We lost quality players, but the replacements were the same quality. We are in a good place. The new guys showed already they have a lot of quality so I am really relaxed on that aspect.”
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
