Dutch Pundits Criticize Rigaux's Start at Feyenoord
Dévy Rigaux has barely closed his first transfer window at Feyenoord and already faces heavy fire. In the Kick-off podcast of De Telegraaf, Valentijn Driessen and Mike Verweij tear into the club’s technical director, calling his start “no success at all” and drawing a series of unflattering parallels with former Ajax director Sven Mislintat.
Verweij doesn’t waste time.
“When I look at that round-table discussion by Rigaux with several journalists, I really fear the worst,” he says, before dropping the comparison that will frame the entire debate. “I hope this does not become the new Sven Mislintat.”
Transfer window under fire
For Verweij, Rigaux’s public statements are already setting off alarm bells. He highlights the Belgian’s comments about Hadj Moussa as an example of what he sees as naivety in the transfer market.
“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,” Verweij argues.
The journalist then points at the saga around Read and AS Roma. Rigaux insisted there was no bid of 30 million euros, sticking to the “official” offer of 26 million. Verweij disputes the way that is presented.
“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 him, it all sounds very familiar. Too familiar.
“He brings in players from the second Bundesliga,” Verweij notes, again invoking Mislintat’s transfer profile at Ajax. “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.”
“Scandalous” round-table
At that point, Driessen steps in and raises the temperature even further. The round-table session Rigaux held with journalists clearly left a mark.
“It was truly a scandalous round-table discussion!” he snaps. What really bothers him is the way Rigaux spoke about the period under former Feyenoord director Dennis te Kloese.
“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?”
For Driessen, Rigaux is not just criticising the past. He is setting himself a standard he might struggle to reach.
“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,” Driessen fumes.
Then comes the sporting warning.
“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?”
Slick talk and big promises
Verweij circles back to his main fear: style over substance. For the fourth time, he reaches for the Mislintat comparison.
“Everyone falls for his slick talk!” he says of Rigaux, before picking out one of the new faces: goalkeeper Tjark Ernst.
“Tjark Ernst, material for Die Mannschaft... Every diagonal ball is a goal conceded!”
The message from the two Telegraaf men is clear. Feyenoord’s new technical director talks a good game, but in their eyes, the first window raises more questions than answers. With Champions League football on the horizon and a squad they consider vulnerable, their verdict is blunt: if Rigaux is right, he has to prove it fast.
