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Goal.com Profile: Ronald Koeman With Ronald Koeman set to take the vacant manager's hotseat at Valencia, Goal.com looks back on a career that, both as player and manager, has seen the former defender make a name for himself across Europe...
Goal.com Profile: Ronald Koeman
Home-Grown Beginnings?
Ronald Koeman is inextricably linked with Dutch football, but even within that small country - and outside it, too - he's been on the move plenty of times.
A Zaandam boy, Koeman was seen as a precocious playing talent as a youngster, but it wasn't with local club Ajax that he made his professional breakthrough. Instead, he took the long journey to Groningen to turn out for the Pride of the North.
He began to turn out for the green-and-whites at the age of 17 and, during his three year spell at the Oosterpark, he helped them on to great success; while they remain trophyless, they did qualify for Europe in the season of his departure.
And when he did leave in 1983, it was back to Amsterdam that he went, joining up with Ajax for another three year spell. Here, he was to lift his first silverware, winning the Eredivisie title with the capital club in 1985.
By this time, the centre-back was beginning to make a real name for himself. Boyish in looks he may have been, but there was nothing weak or juvenile about his defensive stance. As such, he was on the move yet again, joining up with PSV Eindhoven, again for three years.
With PSV, he was to enjoy some of the happiest times of his career. At club level, he won the European Cup, edging out Benfica on penalties, and for the Oranje he lifted the European Championship trophy in 1988.
As a Dutch player, then, he'd already seen and done pretty much everything.
Nou Camp Adventure
Consequently, a move abroad seemed the next natural step, and they don't come much bigger than FC Barcelona.
The Catalan giants snapped him up in 1989, Ronald becoming a first team stalwart in short order. He spent six seasons at the Nou Camp, the finest of which was 1991-92. His rocket of a free kick gave Barcelona their first and so far only European Cup win.
His set-piece goal was to be the only strike of the game as the blaugrana sank Sampdoria at Wembley. It was a joyous moment for Barca fans, and for Koeman, too: the difference was, he'd seen it all before.
Age and new signings began to render Koeman less than vital to the Catalan club so, in 1995, he departed for Feyenoord, gone from the Nou Camp but certainly not forgotten. In Rotterdam, he ended his career two seasons later, bringing to an end a 17 year campaign of silverware and solidity.
To The Dugout
Still, he wasn't out of the game for long. Having represented the Oranje 78 times as a player, he seemed a natural choice as assistant manager to Guus Hiddink, with whom he traveled with the Dutch contingent for the World Cup of 1998.
That was not to prove his finest hour but, regardless, his stock as a technical figure was high enough for him to rejoin Barcelona, this time as a coach. Here he remained until his first managerial appointment at Vitesse in Arnhem.
It wasn't quite the superstar outfit he'd been used to since leaving Groningen but, regardless, he settled in nicely, helping the provincial side to a European place before Ajax came calling.
It was a return to the capital for Koeman, and one that resulted in mixed success. True, he won two titles, but by the end of his tenure, Ajax were beginning to struggle both domestically an on the continent. For arguably the first time in his career, Koeman was experiencing failure.
Life After Ajax
Thankfully, it wasn't to last long. Koeman quickly took over at Benfica, Italian legend Giovanni Trapattoni having departed just prior, and took the Lisbon giants to the last eight of the Champions League. Once again, though, domestic success was to elude him: for that, he'd have to return to the Netherlands.
And so Koeman arrived at PSV Eindhoven, with whom he'd experienced some of his most glorious highs as a player.
Here, he began to modify his tactics to suit the rigours of the continental game, just as he'd done with Benfica. While as a Dutchman he was a proponent of Total Football and attacking nous, he knew that that wouldn't cut it against the best of the best.
"We try to play more offensively in Holland," he once said. "But to have success, results, in Europe we cannot play the way we do in Holland. Other teams are stronger. We have to be more realistic."
It paid off to some extent. His side edged past Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate in the first knockout stage, but then fell sharply to Liverpool in the next round, losing out 4-0 over two legs.
Back home, an injury-riven PSV struggled to last the distance in the league, only just securing the title by a single goal on the last day of the campaign, beating none other than former club Vitesse 5-1 to pip Ajax and AZ to the trophy.
It was close-fought, but arguably a deserved title win for Koeman. However, he wasn't to stay and finish the job next year.
Mestalla Arrivals
For within three months of the new season, he was on his way once more, taking up the reins at the Mestalla following Quique Sanchez's sacking by the Valencia hierarchy.
It will be his first return to Spain in seven years, but he won't enter La Liga as a complete stranger. With his Barcelona experience, he knows the competition well.
Whether he can delight a Valencia crowd that hates near-misses and close-fought wins, though, is another matter entirely. Arguably not since Ajax has he faced so much pressure. Can the rough and ready defender now weather the storms to come as a manager?
Ewan Macdonald, Goal.com
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) Ajax didn't find adequate replace, the top was this year when they droped out of Uefa cup against Dinamo Zagreb 
.
