Feyenoord's Dévy Rigaux Faces Harsh Criticism
Valentijn Driessen and Mike Verweij have come down hard on Feyenoord’s new technical director Dévy Rigaux, branding his first transfer window a failure and warning of an Ajax-style fiasco in Rotterdam.
On the Kick-off podcast of De Telegraaf, both journalists dismantled Rigaux’s early months, with Verweij immediately reaching for a loaded comparison.
“I really fear the worst,” he said, after watching Rigaux’s recent round-table session with journalists. “I hope this does not become the new Sven Mislintat.”
That name still stings in Dutch football. And Verweij didn’t stop there.
He pointed to Rigaux’s stance on Hadj Moussa as a sign of naivety. “He says: ‘No club is allowed to talk to Hadj Moussa, because he has an ongoing contract.’ Well, that is very naive, because it happens everywhere.”
The criticism then moved to the saga around Read and the reported interest from Roma. Rigaux has insisted there was no €30 million bid, only an “official” offer of €26 million. Verweij disputes the framing.
“He also says there was no bid of 30 million for Read, with Rigaux hiding behind the ‘official bid’ of 26 million. But in telephone contact Roma immediately indicated they wanted to move towards that 30 million.”
For Verweij, the pattern is uncomfortably familiar. Again he drew a line back to Mislintat’s ill-fated spell at Ajax.
“He brings in players from the second Bundesliga,” Verweij noted, highlighting the profile of some of Rigaux’s signings. “And another similarity is that you can sense in the media that everyone is over the moon with Rigaux, as if a world wonder has walked in. That was also the case with Mislintat.”
If Verweij was sharp, Driessen was brutal.
“It was truly a scandalous round-table discussion!” he snapped, focusing on how Rigaux spoke about his predecessor Dennis te Kloese. According to Driessen, Rigaux stopped just short of openly criticising the previous regime, but made his feelings clear between the lines.
“The way he spoke about Dennis te Kloese... He did not say it directly, but he did let all kinds of things slip about the Te Kloese period. Too many players, far too much in wages, too many write-downs... He knew what he was getting into, didn't he?”
Driessen bristled at the suggestion that Rigaux had inherited an unsustainable mess and is now bravely rebuilding in a “completely different way.”
“Well, I'm very curious whether in that, according to him, ‘completely different way’ he is going to achieve the same results as Dennis te Kloese,” he said, voice thick with scepticism.
The sporting risk, in his eyes, is obvious. Feyenoord may reach the Champions League, but with this squad he fears a harsh reality.
“You can go into the Champions League with this team, but you will finish bottom without a chance. And then what is the value of Read, Hadj Moussa and Zechiël?”
As the podcast rolled on, Verweij added a fourth and final Mislintat comparison: the way, he says, Rigaux charms people.
“Everyone falls for his slick talk!” Verweij exclaimed, before turning his fire on new goalkeeper Tjark Ernst, who has been talked up as a potential future Germany international. “Tjark Ernst, material for Die Mannschaft... Every diagonal ball is a goal conceded!”
The message from the pair was unambiguous: behind the smooth words and early praise, they see warning lights flashing all over De Kuip.
