Tuesday 27 June 2017 07:19, UK
Frank de Boer has been named as new Crystal Palace manager, but what will he bring to the Premier League?
The Dutchman, who won four Eredivisie titles during his time in charge of Ajax and also had a brief spell as manager of Inter Milan last season, has signed a three-year contract at Selhurst Park.
We examine what to expect from him in his new role...
Crystal Palace averaged just 45 per cent possession under Alan Pardew and Sam Allardyce last season but their style is likely to undergo significant shift under De Boer. The Dutchman's footballing philosophy centres on dominating the ball in the manner of his former clubs Ajax and Barcelona. In his final Eredivisie title-winning season in charge, Ajax averaged 60 per cent possession.
"Frank has always stood for his football to be attractive," said his twin brother Ronald recently. "He likes teams to be pressing high up and make sure that the ball most of the time stays on the ground, to hopefully have the ball quickly in the possession to try to score."
De Boer prefers to use a 4-3-3 formation in order to fulfil his high-pressing, short-passing tactics, and the off-the-ball work demands a strong team ethic. In that sense, he will take encouragement from the togetherness Palace demonstrated while achieving survival last season. For De Boer, the team is more important than any individual.
De Boer won plenty of admirers for the manner in which his youthful Ajax side won four consecutive Eredivisie titles between 2011 and 2014, but there was also criticism towards the end of his reign. De Boer's side continued to dominate possession, but their build-up play was often slow and unimaginative.
It was more reminiscent of Louis van Gaal than Johan Cruyff, and it led to criticism from his former assistant Dennis Bergkamp after he was sacked by Inter last year. "At times, it seems like he would play a positional game just because he liked positioning, as if the whole aim was to obtain the highest possible percentage of possession," Bergkamp told Santos magazine.
"I don't care much for that kind of football, it's football without any sense. You need to seek adventure. You need to have the courage to play football, the courage to take risks and not refuge yourself in a waiting kind of football."
De Boer will need to strike the right balance at Palace.
Perhaps the best testament to De Boer's coaching ability is the sheer number of players who thrived under his guidance at Ajax. Having begun his coaching career in their youth teams, the 47-year-old remained devoted to developing youngsters throughout his time in charge of the seniors.
The evidence can now be seen in Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham. Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Christian Eriksen were Ajax academy products who became key under De Boer. He improved them enough for the club to eventually sell them for a handsome profit.
With De Boer focusing on player development rather than big transfer spending at the Amsterdam Arena, the same trend could be seen in Daley Blind, Jasper Cillessen, Siem de Jong and Arkadiusz Milik. It was also De Boer who gave Davy Klaasen, Everton's new £23.6m signing, his senior debut in 2011.
It's an exciting prospect for Palace. Their academy has produced the likes of Wilfried Zaha, Victor Moses and Nathaniel Clyne in recent years, but chairman Steve Parish has made no secret of his desire to see more local players make it to the Eagles' first-team.
With his impressive track record for getting the best out of young talent, De Boer looks like the right man to make it happen.
De Boer may have only lasted 85 days at Inter Milan but his six-year stay at Ajax shows his appetite for a long-term project. And after going through five managers in as many years, Palace are certainly looking for someone who can put sturdy foundations in place for the future.
"We really want somebody who feels they can come in and help us improve the footballing side of the club over a long period of time," Parish said recently. "In the past we have had managers like Steve Coppell who have been at the club a long time and helped build the club. If we could get one of those relationships again that would be preferable."
De Boer is known to have coveted a move to the Premier League for a number of years having previously been linked with the Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton jobs. Now that he is finally here, Palace will be confident of a long stay.
"The only thing I'm concerned with is making Crystal Palace a very solid Premier League club," De Boer said at his unveiling. "I've signed for three years so [if everything goes well] I want to stay for three years. It's a club that can still can grow further and further."
Like Ajax, Palace will hope to reap the benefits of his coaching for years to come.
