The Wesley Sneijder conundrum
Nobody could deny that Wesley Sneijder is a superb footballer. Small in stature and not, by today's standards, especially pacy, Sneijder more than makes up for his shortcomings with a rare vision and awareness of his team-mates' movements.
Curling free-kicks? Check. Raking 45-yard balls? Check. Hard work? Check. Then there's the short passing, the flicks, the vision, the intelligence, and the goals. But for all his brilliance on the field, Wesley Sneijder - or 'The Smurf' as one of his Dutch team-mates jokingly called him - is slowly turning into a parody of the overpaid, overexposed, self-indulgent football celebrity.
At breakfast with his international team-mates, Wesley Sneijder reportedly said to Piet Velthuizen, goalkeeper of a small Dutch club: "Hey, Piet, how much do you earn?" Velthuizen replied: "400,000 euros." "Don't you think it's funny," asked Sneijder, "that I make 20 times as much as you?"
After the conversation was leaked to the public, Sneijder defended himself by claiming that he and Velthuizen had been joking around. However, the incident shed light on a complex character.
The exchange of words between Sneijder and Velthuizen is interesting for a number of reasons. Indeed, the fact that the incident reached the public indicates that somebody wants to harm Sneijder. This shouldn't be a surprise to anybody.
Disputes within the Dutch training camp are also nothing new. One could only point to Ruud Gullit against Dick Advocaat at the 1994 World Cup or Edgar Davids against Guus Hiddink at Euro 1996. And the World Cup in South Africa could provide another chapter in the Dutch book of intrigue as there is certainly no love lost between Sneijder and Arsenal's Robin van Persie.
It is a well-kept secret in Holland that the two can't stand the sight of each other, to the point where they prefer not to play the ball to each other. During Euro 2008, a Dutch newspaper claimed that Van Persie had kicked the then-Real Madrid midfielder in a training ground game. And with Van Persie now back from his injury, the facilities in the Dutch camp could prove too small to contain both their giant egos at the World Cup.
Controversy also laid the ground for his switch from Real Madrid to Inter when he, amongst a host of galacticos, suddenly became surplus to requirements at the Spanish club after he had advised his own Dutch team-mate Rafael van der Vaart to leave Real. Then, to Sneijder's amazement, Real sold him but let Van der Vaart stay. "The people who now run Real Madrid are not fine people," Sneijder sniffed.
However, at Inter, Sneijder seems to have discovered a safe environment through his relationship with coach Jose Mourinho. "I am a bit like him," he said. "He could have been my father."
Sneijder has not so much been the revelation at Inter this season as for all of Serie A. He had been at the club barely 24 hours and was yet to take part in an Inter training session when Mourinho thrust him into the line-up against AC Milan in August, and he responded with a display of such conviction that Gazzetta dello Sport immediately described him as "the brushstroke that completes the painting".
Some of the most consistent criticisms of Inter over the last few seasons - under both Mourinho and his predecessor, Roberto Mancini - have regarded their lack of creative players who are capable of linking the midfield and attack. Sneijder has solved this problem.
Mourinho had originally planned to recreate the tactical system he applied at Chelsea with such great success. Ricardo Quaresma and Amantino Mancini were brought in to support a 4-3-3 system but as both of them failed to prosper as they had otherwise done at FC Porto and AS Roma, Mourinho instead put all his faith in Sneijder to operate in a classic No.10 role, roaming in behind two other key summer signings, Diego Milito and Samuel Eto'o, in a 4-3-1-2 system.
As a mere mortal, he can't devour an entire team with a devastating run. He relies on his passing to put his team-mates in the right positions. The Netherlands always knew Sneijder for what he was: a small but perfectly formed two-footed player. He was part of an Ajax youth setup in which Nigel de Jong, now of Manchester City, was the grateful recipient of the many free kicks he lifted into the penalty box. Three months after his debut, aged 18, in the Ajax first team, the diminutive 5' 7'' midfielder was in the national side.
His incredibly quick rise to stardom has undoubtedly had a profound effect on the chip he seems to have developed on his shoulder over the years. An arrogance that occasionally puts him right in the centre of controversy is evident, such as when he was sent off for sarcastically applauding referee Gianluca Rocchi for booking Lucio after an apparent dive in a derby against Milan on January 24.
However, until he was sent off, Sneijder had been absolutely superb. He teed himself up to crash a volley off the post from more than 20 yards in the second minute before demanding a fantastic reaction save from Dida as he tried to hook a loose ball home inside the area six minutes later. Taking up residence just behind Milan's midfield, he also effectively took Andrea Pirlo out of the game, ensuring that his focus was purely on trying to restrict and track the Dutchman instead of helping his own team go forward.
Sneijder's performance in the Milan derby is only one of a number of incidents in the career of the talented 'Smurf' which confirms the image of a footballer with an abundance of skills on the football pitch, but also with a self-taught talent for landing himself in controversy through his arrogance. The football world now awaits the next chapter in this fascinating figure's career.
