Eredivisie
Robert Eenhoorn on Arne Slot's possible return to De Kuip
In the studio of the Willem & Wessel Podcast, the voice of Robert Eenhoorn can be heard, who discusses an unexpected possibility between the microphones: the return of Arne Slot to the Eredivisie top, specifically to Feyenoord’s De Kuip.
Slot’s current status and past
Arne Slot is still without a club after he left Liverpool FC. Previously he achieved success at, among others, Feyenoord, where he impressed as a coach. Eenhoorn, the new general director of Feyenoord, certainly does not rule out a new period with Slot at the helm in De Kuip, despite their earlier ‘clash’ around Slot’s departure from AZ to Feyenoord when Eenhoorn was still working in Alkmaar.
Respect and possible candidates
“Yes, that could happen but it’s obviously not on the table right now,” says Eenhoorn in the Willem & Wessel Podcast. “The respect for the coach, Arne Slot, and what he means and has achieved, that has never left here.” Slot is also linked to Tottenham Hotspur and even earlier to AS Roma, but none of those options is currently concrete.
Last season club icon Robin van Persie was dismissed and replaced by Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Eenhoorn acknowledges that this was a difficult situation: “Yes, of course it’s difficult, it’s never pleasant.” The relationship between Van Persie and The Legion deteriorated, but Eenhoorn sees no danger in appointing a crowd favourite as coach.
“If you look at Feyenoord supporters, I would call that more a strength than a negative,” he adds. He also emphasizes that he himself is a fan of Feyenoord: “For me it’s not difficult to separate, I have a job to do here, that’s how I see it, the other thing is a side note.”
Finally, Eenhoorn mentions the development of Gjivai Zechiël. He followed the young player closely during the loan to FC Utrecht: “I thought he was already a very good player at Utrecht last year. And if you let good players play with even better players, and they are talented, they adapt to the level. Then it seems as if they are even better, but perhaps that was already there all along.”