Sacked by Everton following their 5-2 loss to Arsenal in the Premier League, Ronald Koeman is now favourite for the vacant Netherlands job after his home country failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
Leaving the Toffees in 19th with David Unsworth unable to improve things in his first game in charge as interim against Leicester City, the Dutch manager has now hinted his spell at Goodison Park might have been his last in charge of a club.
That doesn’t mean he’s retiring, but with a strong desire to turn things around with the national team, he’s keen to leave the everyday demands of managing a league side behind.
Giving an interview to Sport/Foot in Belgium days before his eviction from the Everton offices, which they’ve only just published, the 54-year-old gave his reasoning behind the likely decision.
He explained: “Even if I seem strong, this crisis is affecting me. It’s anything but fun, especially at home for my wife and my kids. After she recovered from her cancer, my wife Bartina told me ‘Take care of your football, things will be fine now’.
“However, when it doesn’t go well and the pressure grows, she worries. My children are adults and have their own life. You could think their father’s problems affect them less, but they told me they struggled to watch Everton games because they don’t like it when things don’t go well”.
He continued: “It’s been eating at me for a while, since last year, when everything was going well. Being a top-level manager at the highest level takes its toll. Physically and mentally. Don’t get me wrong: this job is always fantastic, you learn to live with the inconveniences, like the fact you’re always away from home when your family has a problem.
“Joy or sadness, I learnt everything over the phone. At my age, I don’t want that anymore because I find family life more important. I already wasn’t there during my children’s childhoods, and it hasn’t changed now their adults. I miss everything”.
Explaining the positives didn’t outweigh the negatives any longer, managing his national team, which would see him have his base in the Netherlands, would be an ideal job.
In fact, for Koeman, it would be ‘the logical next step in my career’.
Unable to turn things around at Everton following a terrible start to the season, we’ll have to wait and see if he can bring good fortune to a country who have struggled in international football for a good three years now.
He seems confident enough he can do it.
First, however, he needs to get the job.
