Hamburg coach Martin Jol always seemed a cool head. Sure, he looks like a movie character that would throw you off a bridge for looking at him sideways and you could always see his mind moving, but external reactions were a bit muted.
This past week, he apparently snapped. This past week, he metaphorically pushed Vincent Kompany down those stairs in an odd snit. And just like that, the budding star wears Manchester City colors.
But to help you follow the meltdown more easily, I'll go back to the beginning...
Jol excelled for three years after being thrown into a hot Tottenham atmosphere, taking the team to heights not seen in 16 years. Not only did he begin his White Hart Lane tenure as caretaker manager, he also twice ignored winks from Ajax - surely a dream job for any Dutchman not closely affiliated with a certain Rotterdam team whose name we shall never speak (and perhaps even some of them).
After a poor start last season, the coach was let go in favor of Juande Ramos, who had won consecutive UEFA Cups at Sevilla. Perhaps not coincidentally, the axe fell directly after Spurs were bounced from that very tournament by unheralded Spanish outfit Getafe.
Many Tottenham fans still strike up a rousing chorus of "I love Martin Jol" in remembrance - especially these days, what with his hotshot replacement struggling to get this year's team out of the gate.
But Jol, once a star bulldog midfielder with ADO Den Haag, FC Twente and West Brom, has moved onto the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Taking over for Huub Stevens (who left for PSV Eindhoven), the 52-year old inherited a team on the verge.
As has been the case for most of the past six seasons, HSV had the look of a team one or two key acquisitions away from contending for not only the Bundesliga crown, but also at a Champions League nuisance level.
Full-of-life exec Dietmar Beiersdorfer and a shrewd scouting staff had gradually pulled off a string of coups to land perpetual glamour move targets like Belgium super talent Kompany, Rafael van der Vaart, Nigel de Jong and Piotr Trochowski - all of whom were under 23 at the time of arrival.
What's more the roster was sprinkled with both solid veteran leader types (David Jarolim, Joris Mathijsen & Ivica Olić) and promising youngsters (Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe & American striker Preston Zimmerman).
Making the new job seem even sweeter was a decent transfer kitty to spend on arrival - but until Monday, the only notable buy had been forward Mladen Petrić, who scored 13 goals for Borussia Dortmund in his rookie Bundesliga season (and was supremely outshined by Croatia teammate Olić at Euro 2008).
Things, of course, changed dramatically when Van der Vaart left for Real Madrid a few weeks ago. Neither Jol nor management at large can be blamed for agreeing to the €15 million deal as their talisman had a clause in his contract that would have allowed him to leave for 10% of that amount next summer.
The real trouble in this story started, however, when Kompany was sent off with a pair of yellow cards in Belgium's Olympic opening 1-0 loss to Brazil on August 7th. The Red Devils rallied to defeat China three days later as the defender sat out his automatic one-game suspension, meaning they only needed to defeat underdogs New Zealand to reach the quarterfinals.
Nevertheless, Jol recalled Kompany to Hamburg on August 11th, saying he was sorely needed. "Our squad is not big enough that we can do without him," said the manager ahead of the season opener against defending champs Bayern.
Initially, the 22-year old balked at the request, citing a written agreement he'd made with the club and a heartfelt desire to help a talented Olympic squad make history in his country.
"I am being made to look as if I broke a promise," he told reporters that day. "Hamburg have been in the Bundesliga for nearly 50 years and played Bayern nearly 100 times, and they will play Bayern another 100 times, but for Belgium, it was the first time ever at the Olympic Games."
With Hamburg applying muscle to the overly soft Belgian FA, Kompany changed his mind on the 12th and headed to the airport. After locating his missing passport, the versatile back arrived for training on the 13th, just about the same time his Olympic teammates were starting a calculated 1-0 victory over the Kiwis that pitted them against a red-hot Italy side in the first knockout round.
"Nobody seems to have any understanding for me when I consider whether or not it would interest me to play in the quarterfinals with Belgium," he said upon reporting. "For me, it was logical to remain in China, but I don't have either the strength or power to fight HSV alone."
Despite his measured protests, Kompany concluded his comments by assuring, "I am a professional and will leave my personal issues to one side. I don't have a conflict with the club and the coach."
Hamburg then posted a 1-1 draw at injury-hit Bayern to kick off the German season, with Kompany relegated to working the final 38 minutes. Jol never chastised his defender in public, but apparently seethed in private.
Shortly after 10-man Belgium stunned Italy 3-2, a costly win that saw center back Thomas Vermaelen shown a harsh straight red, Jol put word out that he would like to get rid of Kompany. As stupid icing on the over-reactionary cake, the manager let it be known that he was essentially asking what the club paid back two summers ago (I suppose when factoring inflation, €8 million from 2006 rounds up nicely to €8.5 million in 2008).
New Man City boss Mark Hughes, who had been busting his hump to sign a big name to no avail since arriving from Blackburn, jumped at the chance. The wily coach pounced with a bid with conditions that should push the eventual fee to just over €10 million, acting quickly and boldly to make the move happen while Jol was still in the red mist - and before a host of certain bidders such as AC Milan and Arsenal came calling.
By August 19th, the same day Belgium wasted a bushel of chances before succumbing to semifinal foe Nigeria 4-1 without their starting central defense tandem, the deal was already in motion. Three days later, Hughes had his star signing and the Red Devils went home without a medal after losing the third place game to Brazil.
Just over a week after Kompany's seemingly harmless comments (since when is a Dutch coach frazzled by a player strong of heart, mind and voice?), the soap opera ended as quickly as it began.
After weeks and weeks of chasing targets that never came, HSV supposedly closed a deal on Monday night for young São Paulo defender Alex Silva - who went 90 minutes for Brazil in the bronze medal win over Belgium. The move will reportedly cost... yep, you guessed it: €8.5 million.
They also appear close to signing Boca Juniors left back Luciano Monzón - who played the entire final as Argentina took home Olympic gold.
Hamburg have four points from the first two games, but tough times appear ahead unless they can also find a new playmaker and a top notch striker (the thing they've been missing all along) before the transfer window closes in a week - I'd think they might soon wish they could have the last 12 days back to do over.
Meanwhile, HSV "problem child" has thoroughly enjoyed a 3-0 win in his Citeh debut against West Ham this weekend.
"I just loved it.," Kompany told The Times. "I signed two days ago, trained once and today I played and didn't know (my new teammates') names."
"During the game I learned their names, learned how everyone plays. It was a lot of fun. I wanted to play an intelligent game and try to do my best for the team."
To me, Kompany sounds like a willful and skillful 22-year old backline marshal with the ability and smarts to play wide or in midfield that any coach would love to have on his team. On the other hand, Hamburg's new coach has begun the new season with more question marks than he inherited three months ago.
Seriously... what the hell was Martin Jol thinking?
- Greg Seltzer
[Photo: Bongarts & Foto-Net]
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3 comments:
Your post misses and important point: for all of his talent and potential, Kompany never impressed in Hamburg. His first year was basically a loss because of injury. And last year, although still bothered by injuries, when he did play Kompany was wildly inconsistent and frequently downright bad. So when reports surfaced last year that Wenger and Arsenal were interested in Kompany the reaction in the German press ranged from shock to borderline giggles.
Kompany is still young and very talented and he has plenty of time to become the star many believe he will be. However, many in germany and Hamburg doubted that he was on track for that there. Your post seems to suggest That Hamburg just gave away a budding star, but the truth is he never was able to establish himself at HSV and management, though they handled the olympic situation badly, probably decided to head in a different direction while they could still get a good for for him.
I will concede that Kompany's first year was nearly a washout due to injury and that he was rather poor the last 5-6 games of last season.
That being said, this transfer had nothing to do with his performances. And even if it did a little, who simply tosses away a massive young talent that could add 50-60% to his transfer value with one All-Star level season?
The bottom line for me is that, while obviously desperate to rid himself of Kompany, Jol was able to immediately get his asking price, and from a Prem team no less.
Heck, had he not been in such a rush, there probably would have been a bidding war.
To me, he freaked out over nothing and the petulance will probably cost HSV points this season and additional profit down the line.
Greg: Since I don't get to see Belgian soccer, so maybe you can answer me this: how do Kompany and Onyewu compare? They were widely considered the two best defenders in Belgium a couple years back, but Kompany makes the permanent move(s) despite what Andrew says - that he is overrated. He's a bright young talent, sure, but has he been worth all the fuss? Can some of Onyewu's shortcomings be because of cultural bias against American players? I think we are biased by seeing him with the MNT rather than day-in, day-out with his club, where he at least sounds like he's successful.
I'm looking forward to seeing Onyewu go up against Torres tomorrow, thanks for the reminder.
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