Groomed for greatness

AS Ajax manager in the 1980’s, it was not unusual for Johan Cruyff to attend youth training at the club’s famous Watergraafsmeer football school.

After all, his son Jordi was a rising talent, but it was a frail teenager playing for one of the lesser-ranked youth teams, away from the eyes - and the instruction - of the club’s professional coaches, that continually caught his eye.

“Why is the blond boy on the wing not playing for one of the top youth teams?” he asked the coaching staff. Come Monday morning, they had a new pupil. It was the start of Dennis Bergkamp’s glittering career.