Crystal Palace hire Frank de Boer with focus on emulating his all-conquering Ajax outfit and promoting youth
The Dutchman managed Ajax to four league titles on the spin during his time with the Dutch giants
By making young players the cornerstone of his successful Ajax team, Frank de Boer helped lay the foundations for the reawakening of one of European soccer’s most storied clubs.
De Boer has been challenged to have a similarly transformative effect on Crystal Palace.
The former Netherlands defender was hired as manager of Palace on a three-year deal on Monday, with club chairman Steve Parish saying De Boer’s reputation for “bringing on young talent” was crucial to the decision.
“We have always been a club that’s been about young talent,” said Parish, who sat alongside De Boer at a news conference to present the new coach. “Youth has always been an important part of what we do.”
More important to Parish and Palace’s American owners, David Blitzer and Josh Harris, was De Boer’s five-and-a-half-year spell at Ajax from 2010-16, during which he became the first manager to win the Dutch league for four straight years. That came at the start of the new era – labelled the “Velvet Revolution” – when Ajax stopped buying expensive foreign players and started to promote youth players from within.