World-class in every position: How Ruud Gullit became the best player in Europe
Instead of making his dad’s dream a reality by joining Dutch champions Ajax, Gullit went to a Feyenoord team that had just finished sixth – two places below Haarlem.
He was asked onto a TV talk show to explain his decision. Gullit reflected: “[Host Sonja Barend] said that everyone was very surprised that I wasn’t going to Ajax, but to Feyenoord. Sonja literally asked what I was doing at such a bad club, I looked at her and said: ‘You can think what you want. But if we become champions, you have to invite me on again, right?’
“I saw the potential of the club and the team.”
The 19-year-old had already stung Feyenoord towards the end of the season, scoring a header as Haarlem beat them 3-1 in De Kuip. Feyenoord turned that aerial prowess into a weapon of their own.
Scoring a header in his Eredivisie debut as they beat Excelsior 3-2, he was off to a flyer. A week later in a 3-1 win at PSV, Gullit collected the ball and casually strolled through the hosts’ half with his head up, looking for a pass near the box. After the ball found its way out left, Gullit continued his run and rose to divert Ben Wijnstekers’ cross into the net.
Gullit scored eight in the league that season as Feyenoord finished second. Then, the unthinkable happened.
Johan Cruyff, outraged by the contract Ajax had just offered him, accepted an audacious proposal from their fierce rivals down south. Now 36, many believed the legendary forward was too old to keep up. Furthermore, with many key players leaving, including icon Willem van Hanegem, Feyenoord looked too weak to challenge the powerful Amsterdam club.
They underestimated Cruyff and Gullit.
“I was more curious than anything,” Gullit later told The Guardian. “He was 36 when he came to Feyenoord. There were moments when I thought: ‘OK, now I’m going to get the ball off him’, but I couldn’t. I was thinking: ‘Thirty-six? Imagine how good he must have been at 24?’”
The man dubbed Pythagoras in Boots took over the team, dictating to team-mates during games, setting training drills and picking the lineup. Crucially, he was still untouchable on the ball. Feyenoord started bullying opponents, with the old master and protégé tearing it up. Often creating goals for each other, sometimes finding the net in the same game, they were impossible for defences to contain – until Ajax inflicted the first Eredivisie defeat.
Cruyff’s return to Amsterdam couldn’t have gone worse: they were 3-0 down 25 minutes in, but a Gullit assist and another Feyenoord goal gave them a chance at half-time. They couldn’t resist the second-half onslaught, though, as five goals flew in over the last 30 minutes.
“It might sound strange, but we were better for a long time,” Gullit remembered. “We had chances to take the lead. After the 3-2, we went all out. And then they made it 4-2, with a lot of luck. Keje Molenaar happened to get the ball in off the back of his head. Well, after that, the floodgates opened for us. And they were lucky that almost every attack went in.”
A win was only worth two points back then and Feyenoord had shown they had the quality in previous games to bounce back, so Cruyff wasn’t nervous. “The funny thing is that loss didn’t hurt at all,” the attacking midfielder said. “It was more of a turning point. Cruyff said afterwards: ‘Guys, it’s just two points.’
“We knew we could play good football. We improved because of that 8-2 defeat. After that, we also won almost every game. Including against Ajax, in both the home game and the cup.”
Gullit scored a free kick and Cruyff doubled the lead as Feyenoord beat the Amsterdam side 4-1 in De Kuip in the league months later. They lost just once more in the Eredivisie – to Groningen – and claimed their first title in 10 years. Gullit also scored and got an assist against Ajax over two legs in the KNVB Beker and finished the competition’s top scorer as Feyenoord completed the double.
“What a year that was,” Gullit said.
The young attacking midfielder was voted Dutch Footballer of the Year by his fellow players, while the media handed Cruyff the Golden Boot.
Hanging up his boots at the end of that season, El Salvador had more wisdom to pass on. “At the end of the year he told me: ‘Ruud, the next club you go to be prepared for the fact that people won’t like you anymore. Also, you need to make others around you play better.’
“I was thinking: ‘Okaaaayyy … I still have to give attention to my own career. How can I help others?’ But when I went to PSV and then Milan the puzzle suddenly fitted together. I remembered everything Johan had said.”
Hughes, the enigmatic Welshman, later said: “When Gullit joined [Haarlem] he was playing with men who were drinking themselves stupid, having fights or telling him their sex stories in the dressing-room. Then he heads off to Feyenoord and Johan Cruyff takes him under his wing – and the rest is history.”
