Who is the greatest Dutch player of all time?

horsechoker

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A lot of names to choose from, the first being Cruyff, before my time but he helped shape football first as a player and then even more as a manager where his legacy still lives on.

Others names that can be considered: Marco Van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Clarence Seedorf, Dirk Kuyt, Arjen Robben, Ruud Gullit, Ronald Koeman

and probably some I forgot.

So who for you is the best?
 
I don't think there can be any meaningful debate about this, it has to be Cruyff.

Jordi Cruyff, that is.
 
Van Barneveld.

Oh, football, right. I didn't get to see Cruyff so my vote is Ruud.
 
Its not dirk kuyt is it. Ones you've missed - Edgar davids, the de boers, stam, kluivert, vds, neeskens, seedorf to name a few. But the answer is cruyff. Interestingly an all star national Dutch team would probably rank pretty highly in best ever. They've had World class talent in all positions. Think they best England.
 
Not seen the likes of cryuff or van basten. So I will go with Robben without being biased but with my bias I will go for Ruud Van Nistelrooy. What a striker!
 
I don’t think there’s a debate.

Who is the 2nd best Dutch player of all time would be a great discussion.

prob go for Van Basten
 
Lot of great players but Rijkaard, MvB and Cruyff standout within the GOAT tiers.
 
Cruyff, Van Basten, Guillt all before my time.so id say Van Der Sar, Robben, Davids of this generation
 
Out of the ones I’ve seen, I’d go for Robben
 
Of the ones I've seen play - I'm 34 - I'd go for either Seedorf or Robben. Robben probably shades it.
 
Scholesgoals said:
Its not dirk kuyt is it. Ones you've missed - Edgar davids, the de boers, stam, kluivert, vds, neeskens, seedorf to name a few. But the answer is cruyff. Interestingly an all star national Dutch team would probably rank pretty highly in best ever. They've had World class talent in all positions. Think they best England.
Click to expand...

An all time Dutch XI would be incredibly formidable:

---------------------Van Basten----------------------
Overmars---------Cruyff--------------Robben
--------------Gullit-------------Seedorf-------------
Frank de Boer-Rijkaard-Koeman-Blind
---------------------Van der Sar----------------------

Bench: RVN, Davids, Ronald de Boer, Kluivert, Van Bronkhorst, Van Persie, Stam, Sneijder, Bergkamp

That has to be up there with the best all time XIs any country can put out. And I'm surely overlooking a fair few.
 
horsechoker said:
A lot of names to choose from, the first being Cruyff, before my time but he helped shape football first as a player and then even more as a manager where his legacy still lives on.

Others names that can be considered: Marco Van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Clarence Seedorf, Dirk Kuyt, Arjen Robben, Ruud Gullit, Ronald Koeman

and probably some I forgot.

So who for you is the best?
Click to expand...

Is this a serious question. I mean I have seen someone compare Arjen Robben to Johan Cruyff.

Johan Cruyff was one of the best, and one of the most influential players of all time. He's up there with Maradona, Best, Pele etc. Phenomenal player, who dicated a style of play which is still being used by many, many, many coaches across the globe. That Barcalona style, Guardiola style of football... that's all from Johann Cruyff.

And what a football player... a match-winner, leader, outstanding skill, goal maker and goal scorer. The man took football onto another level. Not neccesarily better, but definitely took it on and changed how many approach the game.

Arjen Robben has not done that (super player that he was...)
 
Cryuff, Van Basten, Robben/Gullit/Riikard

It is a shame that Robben had so many injury issues, at the same time impressive the way he always climbed back to the top immediately after injuries. Could have been 1st or 2nd best dutch player ever.
 
Cruyff is quite a bit ahead of the chasing pack, for his pedigree as a player and the magisterial influence he had on Dutch football — similar situation to Brazil or Germany, where Pelé and Beckenbauer were, are, and probably always will be the benchmarks and ahead of the pretenders to their throne (i.e. Ronaldo, Zico, Müller, Garrincha, Matthäus and so forth). If I had to rank the rest...
  1. Marco van Basten
  2. Frank Rijkaard > Ruud Gullit
  3. Johan Neeskens > Ruud Krol
  4. Dennis Bergkamp
  5. Arjen Robben > Rob Rensenbrink
Honorable mention: Willem van Hanegem, if only to make sure that Feyenoord supporting passersby don't feel left out. :)

All-Time XI...

van Basten
Keizer — Cruyff — Gullit
Davids — Neeskens
Rijkaard
Krol — Koeman — Stam
van der Sar​
 
Bogarde. Upheld his side of the bargain. Undone by a cyncial world.
 
Cruyff is light years ahead of everyone. Him and Michels basically revolutionized football.

Dont forget Neeskens as well. My father said he was unreal. I think someone once said that having Neeskens was like playing with an extra player.
 
This shouldn't even be a thread. The answer is Cruyff.

I think the answer to the greatest for Holland is the easiest to answer in regards to all the big nations.

Brazil you could debate half a dozen players, same with Spain, Germany, England and Italy. France 2 or 3 players could be argued. Argentina 2 could be argued. For Holland it is Cruyff hands down no arguments.
 
Invictus said:
Cruyff is quite a bit ahead of the chasing pack, for his pedigree as a player and the magisterial influence he had on Dutch football — similar situation to Brazil or Germany, where Pelé and Beckenbauer were, are, and probably always will be the benchmarks and ahead of the pretenders to their throne (i.e. Ronaldo, Zico, Müller, Garrincha, Matthäus and so forth). If I had to rank the rest...
  1. Marco van Basten
  2. Frank Rijkaard > Ruud Gullit
  3. Johan Neeskens > Ruud Krol
  4. Dennis Bergkamp
  5. Arjen Robben > Rob Rensenbrink
Honorable mention: Willem van Hanegem, if only to make sure that Feyenoord supporting passersby don't feel left out. :)

All-Time XI...

van Basten
Keizer — Cruyff — Gullit
Davids — Neeskens
Rijkaard
Krol — Koeman — Stam
van der Sar​
Click to expand...
Might have Koeman in there on the same level as Robben and Rensenbrink. Might also push Krol down a tier.

But I largely agree with that list.

Note on MvB: His legacy is all the more impressive given that he essentially lost the later stages of his career to injuries (problems that began to impede him seriously as early as around his mid-20s, really). So, even with all he actually achieved on the pitch, there's also a bit of a "what if..." aspect to his career.
 
In Netherlands, theyd vote Cruyff by an absolute landslide.

Van Basten, Gullit, Koeman would follow next. Rijkaard, too
 
Half of them are best Surinamese player of all time.... :D

Only joking. Incredible what Holland has given football in terms of player quality and football legacy when likes of Michels, Cruyff and Van Gaal all went into coaching.

Country of 17m let's not forget yet shows their whole football infastructue and ethos is top notch and that's been reflected through the decades although decline in last 10 years although they'll get right back up the ladder soon enough as the culture is too strong for that not to happen.
 
Offside said:
Shouldn’t be a thread when a good 80% of posters on here won’t ever have seen Cruyff play?
Click to expand...

He's hardly undocumented. There's loads of available footage, including many full matches.

That doesn't mean people have actually watched him play, of course - but lack of footage certainly is not an excuse.
 
Cruyff, without any doubt. Then Van Basten.

After that it gets interesting as there are so many greats to choose from. Tossup between Robben and Ruud for me.
 
I was going to jokingly mention Van Djik but having seen Van Nistelrooy and Van Persie mentioned, amongst others, I think he's now a valid shout.
 
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