New Al-Ittihad signing Steven Bergwijn has hit out at Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman for being dropped from the national team for their upcoming UEFA Nations League games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany.
Koeman, who last week named his squad, left Bergwijn out of the selection and blamed the forward for opting to quit Ajax in favour of Saudi club Al-Ittihad. The coach ruled that Bergwijn would never again play for the Netherlands while he remained in the job.
Bergwijn, instrumental in the Dutch running all the way to the semi-finals of Euro 2024, has hit back, saying how upset he is with the public nature of Koeman’s remarks.
I no longer even want to play for Ronald Koeman,” Bergwijn said to Telegraaf. “I won’t play for someone who portrays me as he has done in the media.”
The former Tottenham Hotspur winger also attacked Koeman on the basis that he never spoke to him about the issue.
“He could have called me, heard my side of the story. How can he say such things without talking to me?” he added.
The decision by Bergwijn to head to Al-Ittihad has been met with heated debate, and his latest comments did little to improve relations with the boss of the Dutch national team.
