Nigel de Jong considers quitting Holland after being dropped for Ben Arfa tackle
Midfielder reckons he is being made World Cup final scapegoat
Nigel de Jong is said to be considering retiring from international football after being dropped by Holland boss Bert van Marwijk in the wake of that Hatem Ben Arfa tackle.
According to the Guardian, de Jong feels van Marwijk threw him under the bus with comments made in the immediate aftermath of the incident and sees himself as being unfairly blamed for Holland’s rough n’ tumble approach to Spain during this summer’s World Cup final:
De Jong maintains there was nothing wrong with a challenge over which Newcastle registered an official complaint with the Football Association, and he believes it was wrong in any case for the Dutch to take action against something that happened while he was playing for his club in England.
He has not aired his grievances publicly, largely because he is aware it would look insensitive at a time when Ben Arfa is facing such a long and distressing rehabilitation, but in private he has decided to see how things settle over the next few weeks before deciding whether he can work with Van Marwijk again.
[via the Guardian]
Leave a comment