Some managers seem to have an affinity with a certain type of footballer.
Mauricio Pochettino, at Tottenham Hotspur, turned Danny Rose, Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier into some of Europe’s finest full-backs. Antonio Conte loves a rampaging centre-forward. A Romelu Lukaku, a Carlos Tevez, a Diego Costa.
And when a Giovanni van Bronckhorst side is at their free-flowing best, it’s usually when their widemen are wreaking havoc. Between them, Eljero Elia, Jens Toornstra and Steven Berghuis scored 30 times as Feyenoord won their first Eredivisie title since the turn of the Century under Van Bronckhorst in 2016/17.
And as Rangers racked up the goals away at Borussia Dortmund – a 4-2 victory some have labelled the best European result in Scottish football history – it was Ryan Kent who led the parade, dancing a merry jig around World Cup winner Mats Hummels on his own Signal Iduna Park turf.
Van Bronckhorst is something of a ‘wing whisperer’. A manager who’s attacking blueprint revolves around giving freedom to his wide players and pushing them as close to the touchline as possible, stretching the pitch and opening up space for sudden forays through the middle when the opportunity allows.
“(Steven) Gerrard did an excellent job, but I am a manager with a different system,” Van Bronckhorst explains. “I try to play down the flanks with wingers and a No.10.
“I would say the biggest change since I came in is that we have started playing with out-and-out wingers because we have the players with those qualities to do that.
“And I have to say that so far it has worked out very well.”
Will Rangers regret missing out on Skov Olsen?
Rangers submitted a £5 million bid for Andreas Skov Olsen during the January transfer window.
And while a disappointing spell at Bologna might have raised some concerns amongst the Ibrox support, delve a little deeper and you’ll find a player absolutely tailor-made for Van Bronckhorst’s approach.
Skov Olsen scored 22 goals in 36 games during his breakthrough season at Nordsjaelland in 2018/19, cutting in from the left in a style reminiscent to Berghuis at Van Bronckhorst’s Feyenoord. Or, perhaps, a certain Egyptian superstar.
“At Bologna, Skov Olsen had some trouble with that 3-5-2 (formation),” Danish journalist Klaus Egelund explains (Het Nieuwsblad).
“But in (Denmark manager Kasper) Hjulmand’s 4-3-3, in which he can play like a real winger, he is top.
“He is an Eden Hazard type. But since he’s left-footed and plays on the right, you can better compare him to (Arjen) Robben or (Mohamed) Salah.
“Like them, he is a fast player who likes to come inside and then shoot at goal with great precision. That is his great strength.”
Belgian champions Club Brugge pipped Rangers to the post last month, stumping up £6.3 million for Skov Olsen. That the so-called ‘new Robben’ is thriving again under a manager willing to play him in his preferred system, in his preferred position, is no coincidence.
Bologna boss Sinisa Mihajlovic, it seems, must take his share of the blame for Skov Olsen’s dismal spell in Italian football.
One imagines how much better Skov Olsen would have looked in Rangers blue. Unfortunately, that’s all we can do now, with the Dane getting back to his best in Belgium. Imagine.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
