Feyenoord is now almost certain that coach Arne Slot is working on his last matches for the club. However, it remains quiet about his successor for the time being. In the Feyenoord podcast by RTV Rijnmond club watcher Dennis van Eersel tells us how things stand now.
“The state of affairs is that Feyenoord wants to take its time,” Van Eersel began. “Dennis te Kloese uses the credo: care over speed. Feyenoord has a profile sketch and will first filter the available options. Then there are two or three candidates left with whom they will actually have an exploratory conversation. One main candidate will be selected from this. But there are sometimes stories about trainers who are said to be in pole position… Feyenoord is not at that point yet.”
Van Eersel also knows how Feyenoord works when selecting candidates. “They use data anyway. You will never find someone with exactly the same playing style as Slot, but certain aspects can be measured well. How does a team apply pressure? How often do they recapture the ball high on the field? There are many teams data from throughout Europe. Feyenoord is also not tied to a Dutch trainer.”
In the same way, Rijnmond himself came up with two names. The first is Eirik Horneland, the trainer of SK Brann, the current number two in Norway. “I can also imagine that they will end up at Cercle Brugge,” says Van Eersel. “They also play the type of football that Feyenoord plays. The quality is a bit lower, because the players are of lower quality, but they perform well. It is not that I have signals that he is a very serious candidate, but he will also should be on the list.”
Because Feyenoord is looking that way, there would be many options from different European competitions on the list. It is therefore not necessarily obvious that the club will end up with one of the often suggested Dutch names. “My feeling says that the chance of a foreign trainer is greater than 50%,” Van Eersel finally predicted.
