In an exclusive interview with CasinoBeats, Premier League winner Jaap Stam advised Manchester United to bring Paul Pogba back to the club for a third spell and named Harry Maguire as one of the club’s players of the season…
Q: Paul Pogba’s ban has now expired. Do you think United could be tempted to bring him back as someone who could show Kobbie Mainoo how to progress?
A: If you look at Pogba, he’s been a great player. When he was at United, there were a lot of people saying things about him as a player and what he needed to do and what he didn’t do, et cetera – that comes with playing for United a little bit, if you play for one of the biggest clubs in the world. I’ve seen clips from when Pogba played at United with that team, and I can tell you, he played some very good football. He’s been amazing on the ball, his quality and what he can do, he could really make a difference as well. So I wouldn’t be surprised if a club like United is tempted to ask him if he would like to join for a while. I mean there’s always the question of if he can deliver or not, if he can still produce or whatever, you know, but he’s got so much experience. He has so much quality, and that’s what we need. Well, that’s what they need in Manchester, of course, in the team as well.
Q: Who do you think has been United’s player of the season so far? Is it hard to look past Bruno Fernandes?
A: That’s got to be Bruno and maybe Harry Maguire. I think if you look at Bruno, without a doubt if somebody needs to score or can score, then he’s the one who can do it. He can create as well. We’ve seen that yesterday, he’s involved in the most important things during the games. There’s a lot of things that we can say about him in his leadership or whatever, but he is consistent in terms of being important, scoring, creating, he is taking the team by the hand and saying, ‘okay, we need to step up, or we need to do different things’.
If you look at Maguire, he had a very rough, difficult time at United – not being picked by managers, on the bench. But every time he played the majority of games, he’s been very consistent in his performances and very important for the club as well. You can only praise him for staying at the club through this difficult time, and then every time, coming on and being important and even scoring important goals at times that win games. So these two are, for now, probably the main players in that team that need to make that next step.
Q: A word for Noussair Mazraoui as well. He’s been asked to play different roles.
Yeah, that’s true. We forgot about him. And to be honest, in the beginning when he joined United, we weren’t sure about how it was gonna work out for him in the Premier League, the intensity of the Premier League, the physicality and everything. But he’s been doing an exceptional job. And not only because he played on, for instance, the wingback, but he played at the center back, he played in the midfield at times. He played on the left. He played on the right. So it’s been amazing how versatile he is and in every position he can be very important. So praise to him. It’s a shame that he didn’t score yesterday.
Q: How well do you feel Matthijs De Ligt has adapted well to the Premier League or did you expect more from him?
A: Well I think Matthijs has been used to playing in the four. Maybe at Juventus he played with three at the back at times as well. So he has experience in playing with four at the back. He’s also got the experience of playing five at the back as well, which is good for him. That can help Amorim as well when he’s making his team choices. It’s easier if you work with players who are familiar with the system that you’re playing as well. Matthijs is not the youngest anymore. We can’t call him a talent anymore, can we? Because it looks like he’s young, but he’s already 25.
So he needs to be one of the players that carries the team or is helping to carry the team to be very important. And you can see in the beginning that he needed to find his way a little bit at United, but also in the Premier League. But I think he’s getting more and more confident in his role that he needs to play. I think he’s a good defender. I think he’s a good centre back. For every centre back it’s also very important that you have the players around you as well, that help you out in certain situations. And for now it looks like judging United that we are sometimes focusing on one player and then saying he’s good or he’s not good. Well, it’s the team that needs to help each other to be better as a player, as an individual as well. And I think Matthijs is a good player and I think with the right players around him, he can be a very good player and a very important player for United.
Q: United spent big money on Lenny Yoro in the summer. Do you see any similarities in his game to yours? And how can you see his career progressing at Old Trafford?
A: You can see physically that he is very good. He’s quite tall. He moves well, he’s energetic and he’s quick. I think he’s difficult to beat in a 1v1 situation as well with big spaces that he needs to cover. He’s still a young player, so he needs to develop, he needs to get better. For him from what I’ve seen, if he needs to do the buildup and he gets the ball at his feet and then he needs to carry that ball further up the pitch and he needs to find a solution, he needs to make better choices at times as well. But then again, the midfield players, are they willing to get in certain positions so he can deliver them that ball as well? That makes it easier as well because in the beginning of the game you can see when he has that ball and he’s driving forward that eventually nobody is asking for the ball. And then it is difficult for a centre back to find the right solution as well. And that doesn’t make it easier for a centre back especially for a young guy like he is. But he’s got a lot of potential and with the right manager and with the right people around him including the technical staff. They are all for sure willing to help him out, to make him a better player and the players around him as well, because he’s got a lot of potential I think.
Q: Before the Arsenal game there were big protests from the fans about the club ownership, demanding that the club be sold. There’s been rumours as well about Kobbie Mainoo, that they would be willing to sell him. Do you think, if the club failed to qualify for the Champions League again next year, they’ll be forced to sell some of the younger players like Garnacho and Kobe Mainoo?
A: Well, to be honest, I cannot understand that. If you have these players in your squad and they come through the academy, because I think the Academy for United, it’s massively important. A lot of good players came from the academy. They made that step from the academy to the first team and then developed and they’re very important for the club. So I cannot understand, as owners, that you want to sell very young players. And I’m not saying that they want to, but it’s been in the papers and I’ve read about it as well – but if you look at Kobe and the potential that he has, he can become a very big player.
So it would be a shame to see him go somewhere else and then develop over there and be very important for a different club in the world somewhere. That’s a thing that United don’t want to have. Same with Garncho, he’s already shown signs of being very important. He can still develop. You don’t want to sell these players and then them going somewhere else and making it difficult for yourself. Then you as a club need to search for players who’ve got more or less the same attributes and qualities that these players have that left the club. You don’t want to do that.
Q: After the game, you and Peter Schmeichel were talking about goalkeepers, predominantly about David Raya. Andre Onana was brought in by Erik ten Hag because his kicking was supposed to be better than David de Gea, but yesterday he kicked four balls straight into touch and the Arsenal fans were getting on his back and pressuring him. Do you think United need to look for a replacement goalkeeper in the summer or do you think they will persist with Andre Onana?
A: I think they’re going to get some competition in for him, and I think that’s what you need as well. You need to have goalkeepers who are very competitive. If I look at Andre yesterday, then he looks a bit insecure in how he plays now. I’ve seen him play very good games as well, and I know, because I’ve worked with him at Ajax when he just came to Holland. And when I did the under 23s, he joined my team a lot of times because he wasn’t ready yet for the first team. I know how he is as a person. He is a very humble person. He’s very open for comments and willing to learn and he’s making that progress. Mentally he’s strong. But sometimes it is difficult in certain situations because it depends on what the manager wants. Ten Hag wants him to play out. Ten Hag wanted him to be confident on the ball to keep that ball, to distribute it, to dribble forward, out of the box at times as well and then give that pass.
Now it seems like he needs to kick it long a lot quicker. He’s not as much involved in the buildup play like he was before, maybe that makes him more insecure as well. As a goalkeeper, it’s very important if you have that ball on your feet, that the defenders are set up in a way, that you can always play that ball into them, and the mid two players as well. For the whole game yesterday, that wasn’t really the issue because they tried it in the beginning of the game. After 15 or 20 minutes, they changed it. They went for these long balls that you said as well, and they meant to play that ball to one part of the pitch and then try to win that header and flick it on maybe, and then a couple of balls went out of the pitch.
So yeah, that makes him not confident at all at that time. But I still think that Andre is a very good goalkeeper. I still think he’s got great reactions and everything, he still maybe needs to learn or needs to make other decisions at times as well. But that’s the same for every goalkeeper at this level. He’s a bit stubborn which is good. Sometimes you need that. Pete [Schmeichel] was that when he was younger and he still is now. So, you need to be confident of your own thing, what you can do and what you need to do. Of course you need to be open for criticism at times. And I think Andre he’s always done that. You know, he is always open for a discussion and how you need to perform at times.
I think he’s a good goalkeeper, but if you’re playing in a team without confidence, for a goalkeeper, it’s very tough. You know that if you’re a goalkeeper and you’re making a mistake, the ball ends up in the back of the net and then it’s your fault most of the time. So that doesn’t make it easier for a goalkeeper, it’s hard. But it doesn’t make it easier to play games in a team that is underperforming at times.
Q: Which Man Utd player from your time at the club would most benefit this current team?
I would go for two and they would be Roy Keane and Paul Scholes. You think midfield is where the current team is struggling the most? Yeah. I think so because you need to have players in the system and how they’re playing now, especially in the two holding positions. You need to have players who’ve got quality on the ball, who can be creative, and that’s what you have with Scholes. You need to have players who can run up and down the pitch, they need to press, they need to be able to tackle. Well both of them can do that. Keane is a very good passer of the ball as well. He always wanted to have it in certain positions. And they’ve got leadership. So they can tell the other players around them as well what to do in certain situations and what to do to perform better. And I think that’s what this team needs to get better results. Maybe with Kobbie Mainoo he can be one of them that can learn and grow but all these young players, they also need to have experienced players next to them that can help them forward. That’s what makes it difficult in this team as well. Because there’s quite a few young players and every other more or less experienced player, sometimes he’s struggling and might be thinking about his own position at times too.
Q: There is talk that Man Utd are considering a £40m bid for Jean-Philippe Mateta from Crystal Palace. Do you think he would be a good signing?
Yeah, he fits in in the system because I think at Palace they play with three at the back as well.
So that’s, that’s why he could fit in that system. He also depends on the balls that he gets. It looks like at Palace, they’re a bit more focused on him at times as well in giving him these balls in there as well. So he can be very decisive in his finishing as well. I can see why they might talk about that. On the other hand I need to say is the player, the number nine that is going to bring United back to the highest level? Yeah, that’s a big question mark for myself. It’s tough to see United fans getting excited by that signing really, isn’t it? Yeah, it is true. You know, with all due respect for him, he is doing very well for Palace scoring important goals. You can say, same about Chris Wood, maybe for Nottingham Forest, he’s been scoring goals and he could fit in that system as well. But see, he also likes deep play but is he the player to take United to the next level? That’s the big question mark for myself.
Q: How would you assess Ruben Amorim overall after his first 26 games in charge?
It’s been difficult for him, because from what I’ve read and heard, he’s more or less being pushed into taking the job instead of waiting till the end of the season. Stepping in now and then you can understand that as a young manager you want to take the opportunity and do that. But he knows as well that he took charge of a team that played in a totally different way that he wants to play. So he knew that he probably didn’t have the players to do that, or maybe thought, okay, maybe these players can do it but eventually seeing in training sessions and during games that they find it very hard to do so. Then you get the results that they had now that means that they’re not good enough yet to make that progress that he wants to see. Then you get a lot of discussions, of course, as well, about the amount of games that he’s lost as well. You need to give him time to bring in his own players that he needs, and then you can really judge him on how he’s doing.
Q: More immediately, United have the second leg of their Europa League tie against Sociedad on Thursday. How do you think you’ll approach that and do you predict that they will progress?
I think they can beat them. Sociedad has a good team, a nice team as well. But I still think that United has got better players, so I still think they can beat Sociedad. The main focus needs to be on the Europa League as well because if they make it to the final and if they win it, then we all know what’s going to happen then where they are. So that’s why it’s so important for them to focus on this game and to get a result out of it, to get to the next round. I’m sure that they’re, they’re doing everything they can, you know, to get the focus in there.
Q: Rangers are currently looking for a new manager since Philippe Clement departed and you were recently quoted as saying you would love to manage the club. Have you put your name forward?
No, no, no, no. I haven’t put my name forward. No. Hopefully somewhere there in the UK they still know that I want to go maybe in management. Rangers is a great club and Scotland is a beautiful country. Great league, not a big league, but a great league. Celtic and Rangers are two absolute top teams. So it’s always nice if you can work for one of these clubs. Rangers have a history with a lot of Dutch players and managers as well. Dick Advocaat was my manager at PSV and then he went to Rangers at that time as well. The same season that I went to United and then Advocaat asked me to join Rangers at that time as well. And then I said sorry, I’ve got a different club now where I’m going to go. I think maybe he wasn’t too happy about that, you know, so I had the opportunity as well to go to them.
And then the year before or a couple of years before I had the opportunity to go to Celtic. They were interested. But these are clubs that, because of the history it makes it interesting to work for them because they have something within their DNA that they always wanna make progress. They always want to do well in their league, but also in Europe. And that makes it attractive for a lot of managers.
Q: Could you see Steven Gerrard getting another go in the Ibrox hot seat?
Sometimes it’s good to bring somebody back in that knows the club. That maybe knows a part of the players or people who are working within the club. I think he’s well respected with probably a lot of people over there and fans as well. So that could be a reason why to bring him back eventually and then, and then maybe see next season how well it’s worked out and, and if they need to keep on going with them. But picking somebody else with totally different ideas again or new ideas makes it hard within the season. So sometimes that’s why it’s better sometimes to take somebody else already known. For instance like David Moyes at Everton. He knows the club, he knows the people, the fans. He knows them very well and he’s been doing very well. So that could be an idea.
Q: Dai Yongge’s ownership of Reading seems to be finally almost at an end. Has it been painful watching the club’s decline since you left?
To be honest I can say that I loved the club when I worked there and I still follow them very much because I had a great time working over there. I got the opportunity to work over there to work in the championship which is a great competition. Reading was a great club for myself and my family as well. We enjoyed working over there with the players and we had success. We turned things around over there and then unfortunately okay, you don’t make it to the Premier League, which was a shame. Then you go into a second season like you’re saying. And already months before you talk about what you need to do or what people need to bring in again to do the same thing or, or get close to doing the same thing. And then, you know, it’s difficult for the owners as well to bring certain players in to make that next step. But then you can’t make it.
Towards the end of the season, we talked about it and then we came to the conclusion that it was better for us to part ways. And that’s how the decision was made, we made it together. I feel sorry that it went with the club and that they went all the way down to League One because I think it’s a great club and that they have great fans. The area where the club is it’s great as well and I really think that with this club, you could make something beautiful out of it. But that’s not what happened and then I think that’s a shame because I said, you know, there’s a lot of times when we spoke about it, when we see them play and things were not going well, they said would you like to go back? I said, yeah if the opportunity was ever there, I would love to go back and work for them again if they would have me. But we all know how it works in football. I really enjoyed working for them.
In terms of your career, if you could narrow it down to the best defender that you ever played alongside, who would you, who would you go for?
At Manchester United of course, I played with Ronny Johnson and we had a great partnership together. Without talking, we knew what we were going to do and what the other one was going to do and that’s what you need, telepathy. Coaching is important, but you also need to have that feeling with each other. In Italy I played with Nesta and I played with Maldini as a pair, as a center back, and as a fullback as well and Cafu on the right as well. So we had a great team, and a great defense over there as well. But even if you look at United, Gary Neville and Dennis Irwin, they were world class as well so it’s difficult to pick one.
But if I need to pick one, he’s got quality but also because of what he’s done from a young age all the way till the end of his career, that’s Paolo Maldini. He started very young in the first team of AC Milan and then the career that he had. Even through all these years that all the players that he played with and how humble he stayed as a player. It’s good to see that these professionals are also very good human beings and that’s been for me, a privilege to play with as well. What a career.
