Dutch Top International Players - Model Soldiers of Fortune?

Is it just me or are the current top crop of Dutch international players the biggest bunch mercenaries around?

Let me clarify first. I'm not a hater or a troll, although I'm German I'm a big fan of the Elftal and root for them whenever the German national team is not playing. I'm one of the few Germans to actually own and frequently wear an Dutch national team t-shirt.

However, I've been quite disappointed with the attitudes of several top Dutch players over the past few years. What prompted me to start this thread were Wesley Sneijder's comments made in several interviews over the last week stating that he would have loved to go to ManU in the summer, leaving the impression of a rat wanting to leave a sinking ship. A number of other Dutch top players frequently irritate their international fans with their loose interpretation of loyalty, among them Robben, van Nistelrooy, van der Vaart, Elia and others who appeared to be hell bent on not being caught on a sinking ship or at a smaller club when they could be playing for a bigger one. As a HSV fan I was really frustrated with Elia's performance over the last two years and his constant expressions of wanting to leave instead of knuckling down and really working hard for his team. I was also disappointed with van Nistelrooy and van der Vaart whom the club and the fans gave all their love but who could not see the last of the club soon enough when Spain came calling.
At least Arjen Robben is honest about it, he never says how much he loves Bayern, he'll merely say he likes it there right now but in Football anything can happen, he just always wants to play Champions League. Right now I'm just waiting for news that van Persie is looking to leave Arsenal, now that they're not doing so good.
So why are the Dutch top internationals so fickle in their loyalties? Would it be different if they were playing for Dutch clubs?
I want to end on a positive note with a most notable exception. Mark van Bommel has to be one of the most big-hearted players ever. I have a great respect for the man as a player and for his attitude, as rough as his play on the pitch may sometimes be. His sending away from Bayern, effected by his countryman van Gaal no less, was certainly their biggest mistake over the last season in a year that was full of mistakes.

 

Yes, I have been frustrated with Dutch players as a HSV fan, at the same time we had some great ones over the last years, too. Kompany, de Jong, Boulahrouz and Mathijsen were all great and will be remembered with fondness. Only the other day Kompany said some very nice things about the club.

I certainly did not want to attribute any character deficiencies to Dutch players in general. Yes, all players are greedy, but I think its very understandable in most cases. Whereas only 20 years ago a professional Football career did oftentimes not pay enough money to make a livelihood and if it did, it certainly did not set you up for life. Today you can make a decent living playing in the fourth German league and most Bundesliga players are set up for a long time, if not for life (assuming they are smart with their money, which very many are not). I presume it's similar across Europe. That's why I can understand a young player's considerations when he knows that even apart from the chance for glory and a place in football history, a few years of play with a big club will set him up for life. I can understand that an up and coming player from a smaller club won't pass up millions of Euros for every year of play, especially when a severe injury can end your career at any time whether you're with a big or a small club.

But what I will say about the Dutch is this: They move around much more than anyone else. I just did some looking up on Wikipedia and the following prominent Dutch players have played in at least three of the top four European leagues, i.e. in a total of at least four different national leagues (and I'm not counting pension appointments in the U.S. or the Arabian peninsula): Robben, Sneijder, Huntelaar, van der Vaart, van Nistelrooy, Davids, Boulahrouz, van Bommel and Kluivert. There are probably some more.
If you look at players who have principally played in three or more different national leagues (again not counting pension appointments), the list becomes nearly endless: Van der Sar, Heitinga, Mathijsen, de Jong, Kompany, Elia, Drenthe, Vennegoor of Hesselink, Babel, Bergkamp, Overmars, both de Boers, Seedorf, Stam, Rijkaard and Gullit.
The ones who leave the Eredivisie, go to one place and stay there for a long time like van Persie, Kuyt and van Basten are extremely few. Yet that is what most players from the other countries do. This includes most of the players from other countries than England, Spain, Italy, Germany or France with smaller federations who must leave their domestic league once they enter the top flights of football. I can think of only a handful of players who have played in more than two leagues (again not counting pension appointments).
So why is that? Are the Dutch just more versatile and international or are they indeed soldiers of fortune at heart?

 

Alright, alright I recant: Dutch players are not fickle in their loyalties; at least not more so than players from anywhere else, perhaps even a little less, as DRB300 has attempted to demonstrate. I only said that in the first post to provoke more responses and I never meant to say that all the players I listed in the second post are fickle, that's a misunderstanding. However, I do stand by my principal observation, but I will get to that later.

I am under absolutely no illusions about the role of Hamburg as another waystation for top players. We all understand how the transfer market works and HSV has profited from the way it works many, many times. I also appreciate that the sports journalists are like sharks in bloody water when it comes to getting players to make uncareful statements come transfer season, especially because they have no games to write about. So they're always trying to provoke the players to say something newsworthy and if not that, at least something that will give fans a bit to talk about. But the players know all this and they know that the perception of a player as having loyalty or being a mercenary is all about the way a transfer is communicated, in most cases they are told what to say by their clubs and that's why they should know better. Of course the Dutch are no better or worse in this than anyone else, but since you asked I will give you some examples where Dutch players could have communicated things better:

Wesley Sneijder: It may well be that he loved his time at Inter and I also understand that his transfer to ManU has been discussed since last year and it will be probably happen next summer so he wants to be careful to put off neither side. But in recent weeks he has repeatedly said that he would have loved to go to ManU in the summer (I read that on goal.com, but it was widely reported). If you read that and alongside all the reports about how Inter is not doing so well right now and perceived to be on a downward slope, how can you not interpret that as a statement coming from someone who doesn't want to be caught on a sinking ship?

Raphael van der Vaart: He committed the ultimate no-no. He was the uncrowned king of Hamburg, everyone loved him and at the very first sign of interest from Real he did everything to force a transfer; he even flew down to Spain and had pictures taken with him holding up a Real jersey with his name, which were published in the news, before the clubs had ever started the first negotiations. He was well in his rights to want to transfer to a bigger club, but the way he went about it he showed absolutely no respect for the team he still had a contract with and which had given him nothing but praise until that time. However, I will say that his conduct and play in the following period made up for what he did and today most fans would like him back. Not buying him back last year when he was up for grabs from Real was perhaps the biggest mistake Hamburg has made in a long time. I think it would have even been worth it to take out some debt, Tottenham only paid EUR 9m in the end.

Eljero Elia: I realize he had a tough time coming back from his injury and he was playing under crap coaches that did not help him much to develop. At the same time I believe he could have talked less crap about the club in the media and worked a little harder himself. He probably makes more money a Juve, at the same time this is just another waystation if he wants to progress to the real top clubs, which he could perhaps have done next year directly from Hamburg without a detour if he had worked harder. Now he'll have to stick it out at Juve for a while if he doesn't want to get burned. I still wish him well.

Ruud van Nistelrooy: DRB300, the way you described this was a little incorrect with respect to the timeframe, he never had a chance to play in South Africa. He came to Hamburg from Real in early February 2010, he was still injured and had not really played for nearly a year and a half (he was only subbed in two or three times). He did not play a full game for HSV before Mid-April and in Mid-May the league season was over and the teams were leaving for the WC training camps. He never had a chance. His chances to return to the Elftal came after the World Cup. He had finally begun to return to form in Hamburg, which had not only given him a huge salary but also all the recovery resources that money could buy, now it was finally starting to pay off and he wanted to go straight back to Spain at the first sign of possible interest for a gap-filler. That was somewhat disrespectful, as was the response from the Hamburg management and RvN's conduct afterwards and as usual the press only exacerbated the situation. In retrospect, they should have just let him go there and then.

Arjen Robben: This guy just wants to play at the top level and he doesn't care where that is, at least he's honest and has never professed any special ties to Bayern. However, I believe your assessment of Bayern was not entirely fair. First of all, as things stand right now, experts not only in Germany but across Europe believe that Bayern is among the top four contenders for the Champions League Title. Before Bayern only comes Barca, then Real and possibly ManU, depending on who you ask (I realize the betmakers all seem to give ManCity and Chelsea a better chance than Bayern), so he is playing in the very top flight of football as he would not go back to Real or Chelssea and neither Barca nor ManU are looking to pay a huge amount for a right-winger right now. Secondly, he knows about his fragile physical condition and Hoenness has stated (only this week, and it sounds correct) that the excellent work of the Bayern physical department will also factor into the decision of Robben to sign an extension with Bayern. In the end it's not only Robben who is good for Bayern, but Bayern is a good place for him also.

Finally I do stick to what I said about Dutch players moving around a lot and I still wonder why that is. Let me say what I mean more precisely: Dutch players move from club to club just as much or little as anyone else, but when they do move, they seem to have a much greater propensity to switch leagues than players from any other country. Off the top of my head I can't think of any non-Dutch player that has played in three of the big four (or five if you want to include France) leagues in Europe. Most South Americans, Eastern Europeans, Africans or Scandinavians will come to one of the top leagues and then usually stay in that league when they switch again, a handful will go to another league once, but not in scores like the Dutch and I really can't think of anyone to make a third switch in the big leagues. It's just conspicuous, don't you think.
It probably really is a cultural thing and the whole Real episode when that idiot Perez bought half the Dutch national team probably is a big factor here, but I still find it worthy of note and discussion.