http://www.vi.nl/vi/show/id=62802/contentid=92815/sc=898433 Ahead of Urby Emmanuelsson and Mousa Dembele. As voted by a jury notably including Van Basten and Cruyff.
and rightfully so. Dembele seems to have turned it up lately, but Affelay deserves it over the course of the year.
He 2003/04 PSV 2 0 Eredivisie 2004/05 PSV 7 2 Eredivisie 2005/06 PSV 23 2 Eredivisie 2006/07 PSV 27 6 Eredivisie He has improved a lot this season.
Dembele really came on in the last few months--I don't think he's over rated--he will be probably the most talented of the three and will show it in the next 5 years but all three are solid players and I think Afellay played well all year long
To me Dembele is a bit further developed Babel without the shooting and tremendous speed. There's no way he's in the same league as Urby talent wise, in my opinion.
I honestly don't sit and watch enough Ajax or PSV games--I'll happen to watch them if that's all the streams are carrying so for them to really impress me they really have to stand out every game Sneijder--Perez--Hietinga-Davids and Stek.- -Huntelaar sometimes--but on the year not anything extraordinary Afellay--Alex Cocu- Kone and when he plays Varynin?-midfielder- -Farfan strikes me as the classic diver--last year against Ajax he proved it for AZ I just watch for who is getting better fast--Dembele--DeZeeuw--Schaars--I hope this injury is not serious--Lens-Martens-Jenner and Czoimmer--but I hear he's been good for a while so my opinion is a little skewered
I've seen Dembele twice v Twente and he was by far AZ's best player on both occassions. Genuine talent in my view, and based on this season, also the more effective player when compared to Babel.
I would agree with that even if I risk being labelled an Ajax basher again. If he were Dutch the whole country'd be raving about him.
In what way is he more effective than Babel? They both hardly score goals, but Babel plays on the wing and Dembele plays in the centre.
Babel is like Michael Jackson when he made Thriller. Dembele is like Michael Jackson when he made that video with Lisa Marie Presley.
I always get the feeling with Babel that many of his genius runs fail at the last hurdle. With Dembele I don't get that feeling. Babel also seems more predictable than Dembele.
Babel's been a talent for three years now and he's yet to have a genuine breakthrough season as far as I'm concerned. Whereas this is Dembele's first proper season in the first team of an Eredivisie side. So perhaps it'd be better to turn around that analogy.
Hehe, well why don't you come up with your own analogy then Johan. I like mine the way it is. P.S. or you can just put it in plain english like you did, that works too
Well, your feeling isn't backed up by facts so I woldn't know how much it's worth. Fact is: Babel hasn't done worse than Dembele, so especially since Babel isn't playing in his natural position it's pretty hard to say Dembele is having a breakthrough season and Babel isn't.
It's just my opinion, you're right. I have seen Babel play on a number of occassions and I never was in awe of him, whereas I was of Dembele. Then again I also didn't have the feeling Van Basten was anything special when I saw him play v Twente the first time. But Van Basten was only 18 at the time whereas Babel is what, 22? 23? He's taking a bit too long to develop is my point.
See this is the thing, I had a feeling he'd already been around for ages! I do still believe Dembele has been the better player this season though. But no-one knows how they both will develop in the future.
Dembele will turn 20 this summer--Babell will turn 21 later in Dec- for the first 2-3 months Dembele was more of a passenger and not even a starter---he progressed at lightning speed from about December--Van Gaal must be given credit--he went from 3rd striker to the go-to guy--dangerous and quick- -he won't score every time--(like that miss against Werder at home)--but he causes other defenses to open up if he plays on Sunday, I think that he's a bigger factor than Babel playing or not and that makes me believe he's better at this point
I never realized how good Dembele was until recently. It will be interesting to track these two in the next few years. Seems like they will both be staying in the Eredivisie for at least another year.