da brdice： Leeds United appear to be closing in on their new manager…
What’s the latest on Schreuder to Leeds?
da dobrowin： That’s according to journalist Mike McGrath, who took to Twitter to highlight a very special guest in attendance at Elland Road for the Whites’ 2-0 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday.
He wrote: “Ex-Ajax coach Alfred Schreuder a serious contender among candidates for the #LUFC manager’s job. Dutchman is at #LEEMUN today”.
Having been sacked at the end of January, Schreuder’s return to football could come sooner than expected to help Andrea Radrizzani salvage the Yorkshire club from relegation.
Would Schreuder relegate Leeds?
Boasting a vast managerial CV, his most recent exploits in Amsterdam do suggest that he might lack the credentials needed for this Premier League dogfight.
Leeds’ recent defeat has left them just one point above 18th-placed Everton, who face local rivals Liverpool tonight, and a win for Sean Dyche’s men would drop the Whites in the relegation zone for at least a week. The Toffees will then host Leeds on Saturday at Goodison Park.
There will be hope that a new manager has been instated before then, but it could be worrying news if that man is Schreuder.
Having only been at Ajax since last summer, the 50-year-old did an outstanding job of causing turmoil inside a dressing room which had won the last three Eredivisie titles.
His treatment of Daley Blind in particular drew scorn, with the talismanic defender feeling pushed out of his boyhood club in a spat which he described as “personal”.
Former Netherlands icon Wesley Sneijder backed this up by venting his own frustrations with Schreuder’s methods, claiming: “He [Schreuder] can’t manage. I’ve said it before: managing a team is much more important than setting the lines.
“Anyone can do that. But how do you deal with those players? And he’s slowly just losing the dressing room.”
An Ajax team which has often been so dominant in the Eredivisie was underperforming on his watch, too. Their last league win came in October, and his average of 1.65 points per game (PPG) was abysmal considering that Erik ten Hag won the title last year with 2.44 PPG.
This was whilst overseeing a team widely regarded as the best in the land, so for Schreuder to take over a struggling Leeds team devoid of confidence does not bode well.
His introduction could well spell relegation for Radrizzani, as he would be welcoming a polarising figure without the skillset to back up his seemingly confrontational demeanour.