Support for Veerman from an unexpected quarter: “Koeman could have made it much easier for himself.”

It will have almost nobody in the Netherlands escaped what Joey Veerman said after the PSV - FC Twente match about national team coach Ronald Koeman. After the game against Twente, Veerman said that the coach no longer needs to call him, and that sparked a lot of discussion among both supporters and opponents of the PSV player.

Earlier, Hugo Borst and Chris Woerts voiced their support for the PSV midfielder, while Johan Derksen and Rob Jansen openly side with Koeman. Also Mike Verweij, a journalist and Ajax watcher for De Telegraaf, has spoken out in the Veerman-Koeman dispute and perhaps surprisingly Verweij chooses the side of Veerman.

The journalist understands Veerman's frustration that the nature of the midfielder being brought up is cited as a reason not to select him. ''Ronald Koeman had to submit a list to FIFA. A preliminary selection. At most 55 people could be on it and at least 35. Apparently Koeman put 40 people on that list. How easy would it have been to send Veerman an email as well and put him on that list?'', says Verweij in the podcast Kick-off of De Telegraaf.

According to the journalist, Koeman makes a big mistake by not putting him on the list of 40 people. ''And then everyone would have understood if you hadn’t selected him on 27 May, because he has clearly been saying so in the past. Koeman could have made things a lot easier for himself by simply putting him on that list. Then you have 41 people, instead of 40. And that Veerman is a bit upset about it, I can understand. It’s always about his character'', said the Ajax watcher.

According to Verweij, it is also a strange matter that the national team coach never told the press what exactly happened during the Euro 2024 in Germany. ''If Koeman had just said that he was not good enough as a footballer. Veerman really doesn’t know what he did wrong during that Euro. He thinks that he behaved completely normally. And of course that is strange, if you say that it has to do with his behavior and you don’t explain it any further,'' the journalist continues.

Verweij also knows that Veerman has asked around with his own physiotherapist, who happens to also work with Oranje, about what exactly happened during the Euros. ''Veerman, of course, has sat on the bench at PSV with a gloomy face and a bit of grumbling, but there is a difference between sitting on the bench at PSV or with the Netherlands national team. Veerman also said that he asked his own physiotherapist, who is also the physio for Oranje, what happens during that Euros. But he didn’t know. Jerdy Schouten also didn’t know. So where does that come from then? I have no idea'', the journalist concludes.