Going Dutch is the only reason Koeman rides again

Nobody, not even Ronald Koeman, can be happy with the circumstances of his return to the Dutch national team. It was confirmed last week that the former Everton and Barcelona boss will take the reins after the World Cup, just days after Louis van Gaal – himself currently in his third spell – announced his treatment for prostate cancer.

The pair’s relationship has long been underpinned by animosity, but Van Gaal gave his blessing and Koeman will get back to work in 2023. Aside from the circumstances, the Dutch FA’s decision has been met with something of a lukewarm reception; there are questions over Koeman’s worthiness for the role after his rather pitiful end to life at Barcelona, the job he initially left the Netherlands for in the summer of 2020.

While it wasn’t all his fault – any coach in world football would have struggled to make a positive impact against the wave of difficulty the club were facing financially, which ultimately culminated in the departure of Lionel Messi – his time in the job he always coveted crystallised the existing themes of Koeman’s coaching career. It was fraught with arguments, finger-pointing and the myth of a style descending into a complete lack of identity.

He’d become known as a journeyman for a reason, barely making a mark with countless other chances in top jobs he’d had at Benfica, Valencia and even Everton, where he was given a huge amount of money to challenge for European football but departed with the club floundering, perhaps as a very early symptom of the dire situation they currently find themselves in.

It was an indictment of where Barcelona were when they hired him, but Koeman was willing to turn away from his country in order to take a club job. That isn’t necessarily a