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Arsenal, Liverpool + Tottenham target the better buy
Written by Sawyer | 16th August 2006 | 17 Comment(s)
Dirk Kuyt may or may not be on his way to the Premiership, with Liverpool looking the more likely destination, but the real race for a Dutch striker could begin at the end of this season if National Coach Marco van Basten can influence matters.
Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool have all been monitoring Klaas Jan Huntelaar for some time now and it is not surprising that Tony Adams' arrival at Portsmouth now sees the ambitious South Coast club cheekily attempting to lure the Ajax striker before the big boys pounce.
Adams had been coaching in Holland and giving Arsene Wenger some advice on some of the young players in the Eredivisie.
Van Basten has stated that he would like to see the developing Huntelaar remain in Holland for a further one or two seasons before changing to a different competition, especially as he would gain more Champions League experience with Ajax during the coming campaign as opposed to a move to Pompey.
Huntelaar began last season at Heerenveen having arrived there a year and half previously from PSV Eindhoven who failed to realise his potential. A January move to Ajax prevailed and he finished the season scoring over 50 goals in all competitions, inspiring the Amsterdam club to a Dutch Cup Final victory and a Champions League play-ff win.
Huntelaar's haul of 33 League goals matched the best ever total managed by Johan Cruyff and most of Holland was in disbelief when van Basten didn't announce the Ajax forward in his party for the World Cup, but with Ruud van Nistelrooy now overlooked a place has become available.
Disappointed at not being at the World Cup Huntelaar instead went to Portugal for the U-21 Championships and helped Holland claim that particular title for the first time in their history, scoring four goals in the process.
He holds the distinction of scoring the first ever goal at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium during Dennis Bergkamp's testimonial match where Wenger could see at first hand his energy in running off the ball and creating space for himself; not to mention a clinical finish.
More seriously for Ajax he has put them in a good position in their Champions League qualifying match with FC Copenhagen by scoring both goals during the 2-1 first-leg away victory, so the signs are that last season may not be just a one-off.
The two goals scored against Republic of Ireland on his full international debut will have only added to Huntelaar's growing reputation.
On van Nistelrooy, van Basten has not ruled out a return for the new Real Madrid goalscorer and there are those who would like to see him partnered with Huntelaar at some stage.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was van Basten's most surprising selection for the World Cup, although not quite as shocking as Theo Walcott for England, and it remains to be seen if there remains any animosity between the Coach and van Nistelrooy following their fall-out in Germany when Hesselink was sent on to try and restore parity with Portugal instead of van Nistelrooy, who had been dropped for Kuyt.
Although some players may find it difficult to adapt to life in the Premiership it should be remembered that Huntelaar has replaced a player who scored 150 times for Manchester United, and had struck 24 last season even though he missed many games having fallen out with Sir Alex Ferguson, which should show van Basten's confidence in the young player.
‘'We made a change, bringing in Klaas for Ruud,'' explained Van Basten, speaking before Holland's encounter with Republic of Ireland.
''He is a player in whom we have a lot of confidence, but in football you never know what can happen in six months.''
''It's not something definite, but at this moment we have chosen Klaas Jan Huntelaar.''
Holland normally plays with two attacking wide players, of which most are just as comfortable in front of goal, which does limit the amount of out and out strikers required.
Van Basten explained, ''We are also very lucky in Holland in that we have a lot of good centre forwards, so we have to make decisions which are not easy.''
''Klaas, Ruud, Dirk Kuyt, Roy Makaay, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (in his opinion) are all good centre forwards, yet we can't select them all.''
''So it's hard to make changes, so when you make a decision like we did with van Nistelrooy, who is a very famous player, it attracts a lot of attention.''
''Ruud wasn't amused or happy at not being selected, which is normal, but he accepted it and will do his very best to convince the Holland technical staff that we have made a wrong decision.''
''That is also a good squad mentality, so we will see what happens in the coming few months.''
Whether van Nistelrooy will permanently join his Real Madrid team-mate David Beckham among the international out-casts remains to be seen, but if he does make his way back into the squad it will be unlikely to be at the expense of Huntelaar, whose emergence may also be one of the reasons why clubs have cooled on Kuyt following his performances in Germany.
Ajax paid £6.2 million for him last January, but should the goals flow once again Arsenal, Liverpool, Portsmouth and Tottenham can expect their scouts to be joined by many other clubs as the season unfolds.
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Comments
Comment by Mr Wenger on Saturday 19 August 2006 @ 5:21am
Comment by Bryan on Friday 18 August 2006 @ 7:52pm
Not Liverpool matey - at least not unless we get rid of strikers! We have - Kujt, Crouch, Fowler, Bellamy and Sinama Pongolle. Plenty for now. Time to save the pennies!
Comment by Ticky Tammy on Friday 18 August 2006 @ 2:53pm
funny thing Reyes wanna go to real and you say Arsenal is the best funny thing Babetob Choose Spurs rather than ManU and they said they are the best and another 18.6M Laugh too funny thing money can buy Shev but cannot buy charity shield Let see in long run who the best but not now
Comment by Woolwich Wallies on Friday 18 August 2006 @ 1:12pm
Mugs. He'll go to Man U.
Comment by 8：00 a.m. on Friday 18 August 2006 @ 12:27pm
Come to Arsenal, We are the king of north london. Spud? ..... hahahahaha........Forget it!
Comment by MARK on Friday 18 August 2006 @ 11:00am
THE PLAYER WILL PICK WHO HE WANTS TO PLAY FOR AND BY THEN SPURS WILL BE THE BEST TEAM SO HE WILL HAVE NO OPTION. BERBATOV AND KLASS
Comment by Jaymzy on Friday 18 August 2006 @ 11:56am
Come to Arsenal, we've got a great ground and we're playing in Europe once again. Don't go to Spurs, you'll get food poisoning and wont play in Europe. Klassenal has a great ring to it
Comment by Sid on Friday 18 August 2006 @ 11:10am
He will go to Tottenham or Liverpool, thats where the future is for a player like that.
Comment by Martin Jol on Friday 18 August 2006 @ 10:01am
I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar. I hate Huntelaar.
Comment by The Man on Friday 18 August 2006 @ 9:57am
Haha, Klass going spurs??? Thats a good one. Wisen up you top 4 wannabes, you guys suck. End of story.
Comment by Fat Barry on Thursday 17 August 2006 @ 7:30pm
for sure, come to tottenham and enjoy the lasagne and magnificent beauty of the seven sisters road and edmonton, where the locals throw rocks at planes and howl at the moon.
Comment by ruzzian on Thursday 17 August 2006 @ 5:34pm
Come to Spurs and actually play, instead of being shoved in the reserves... like at Arsenal! Although saying that, he is a foreigner so Wenger would like that. Stinking Goons, ruining English football! SCUM!
Comment by Arsene Wenger on Thursday 17 August 2006 @ 5:09pm
dont come arsenal we suck
Comment by goonerhopeful on Thursday 17 August 2006 @ 5:25pm
Klass.idiot scoring against arsenal was a great feat. go the gooners.
Comment by Tom on Thursday 17 August 2006 @ 5:49am
Very unlikely that he will bother going to Tottenham.
Comment by MikeF on Wednesday 16 August 2006 @ 11:50pm
you mean: he's Klass! (see what i did there!). Come to Spurs - let Jol make him even better!!
Comment by dennis on Wednesday 16 August 2006 @ 10:12pm
yes. pls bring him to liverpool. he's class !
Come to arsenal so i can stare at you