When people ask me who, in my opinion, the best player in the world is, I have no doubt at all, his name is Clarence Seedorf, the dutchman from AC Milan. Most of my interlocutors look me as if I’m crazy, but when I end with my arguments, even if I didn’t convinced them, at least it’s clear to me that I left them thinking about it in their heads.
We start by saying that Seedorf, even at 33, is the best player in the world when it comes to quality (enormous, btw) with quantity. That was always his best characteristic, since the times of his first CL at age 19, with Ajax, in the final in Viena, when the dutch team beat them 1-0.
That CL isn’t the only nice memory that Clarence have from that time, when he started as LM in Van Gaal’s system: still today he is the youngest player to have debuted with Ajax’s shirt, since he started out on November 29th, 1992, with 16 years and 242 days.
He also won the CL (vs Juventus, 1-0) and the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo, while wearing RM’s shirt back in 1998: a big achievement, if we consider that los merengues had a 32 year drought without winning a CL. During those days, he was also a LM, in the 4-3-3 system of Jupp Heynckes.
After 3 years of mishaps at Inter (the nerazzurri were at their worse momento), where they even accused him for Ronaldo’s departure (LOL), he was traded for Francesco Coco and he arrived to Milan. No one ever knew who was responsible for his departure, who was the mastermind behind such a “brilliant” transfer, but I’m sure that person must have regret a thousand times for accepting such nonsense.
With the rossoneri shirt, Clarence won 2 more times the CL, the first one as a LM again, in the remembered final won in pks against Juventus in Manchester (2003), and the second one, in Athens against Liverpool, 2-0 (2-1), with a double by Inzaghi. This last time, Seedorf was playing as a AM, next to Kaká, behind just one striker. That season, UEFA chose him as the best midfielder of the competition.
Making it clear that winning 2 CLs with 3 different teams is an absolute record, that IMO, will be almost impossible to break, I still hold the fact that no one, in this moment, deserves a Ballon D’ Or for his career more than the Dutchman. Sadly, the trophy is annual, and since it wasn’t given to him when it could’ve been, Clarence will have to retire without ever winning it, but it’s one of the biggest injustices in football’s history, at least IMO.
What are Seedorf’s characteristics? Firstly, we’re talking about n extremely inteligent man: he speaks 5 languages, and he can pass from talking in italian, to spanish, to german in the same conversation, without any sort of problem. As a player, he shows the same intelligence and versatility: gifted with an exquisite technique, he knows how to do the dirty work of a DM cause he seems to know where an attack will develop and which part of the field is needed to cover.
Also, today’s Milan, the team that is lifting it’s head when everyone thought it was dead, owes almost everything to him, since he decided to go further behind, and so he does a CM and AM role in an incredible 4-2-3-1, as if those 33 years didn’t weight on him at all. Just look at it, Milan plays well when he plays well, and sucks when he doesn’t appear.
Summing up, Clarence Seedorf is my midfielder of choice (¿?, expression I’m not familiar with), and I would use him in my best first 11 right now and till the end of time. He never got the recognition he deserved, but he has so many trophies, that he doesn’t really need more than that. When he retires, don’t even doubt it: he’ll be an amazing coach.
, nah kidding I'm not looking for that.
if not, I will do it... eventually.
