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What happened to Barcelona's 10 Dutchmen in history?

  /  autty

Barcelona have had a Dutch flavour ever since Johan Cruyff instilled his ideology on the club.

This was taken to the next level when Louis van Gaal took charge at the Camp Nou in the late '90s, as Barcelona signed as many as 10 Dutchmen during the coach's tenure.

In fact, there were as many as eight in the squad during the 1999/2000 campaign, but what have these 10 players been up to since hanging up their boots?

Winston Bogarde

After his spell at Barcelona, Winston Bogarde joined Chelsea, where he played just 11 times in four years at the club and earnt a staggering 40,000 pounds a week.

He has since become Ajax's assistant coach due to the absence of Christian Poulsen, who recently contracted coronavirus.

Edgar Davids

He arrived at Barcelona on loan from Juventus in 2004 and played just 18 times for the Catalan side before returning to Serie A.

Edgar Davids finally hung up his boots in 2014 after last playing for English non-league outfit Barnet.

Boudewijn Zenden

The exiting winger joined Barcelona in 1998 after five successful years at PSV Eindhoven, however he failed to make an impact and left for Chelsea three years later.

Nowadays he plies his trade as a property investor, as well as being a co-owner of a gym and hotel called 'Zenden Hotel Maastricht' in his hometown of Maastricht.

Marc Overmars

Another winger, Marc Overmars joined Barcelona in 2000 from Arsenal for a fee of 25 million pounds, making him the most expensive Dutch footballer in history.

He left the Catalan giants in 2004 before playing one more season for the club where he started his career: Go Ahead Eagles.

After hanging up his boots, Overmars started a classic car business with his father and brother before trying his hand at construction and commercial property rentals.

Nowadays, he is back in the footballing business and is the sporting director at Ajax.

Patrick Kluivert

Patrick Kluivert was a key member of Barcelona's attack, scoring 122 goals in 257 appearances in all competitions and winning LaLiga Santander in 1999.

He still lives in Barcelona and is the club's director of the youth academy.

Philip Cocu

Philip Cocu was at Barcelona over the same period as Kluivert, and he wanted to continue having a career in football after his retirement.

Currently he is manager of Derby County in the EFL Championship, after having spells in charge at PSV and Fenerbahce.

Frank de Boer and Ronald de Boer

The De Boer brothers made the move to Barcelona in 1998, but Frank stayed for one more year than Ronald, who left in 2002.

Frank departed the Camp Nou in 2003 and he went on to represent Galatasaray and Rangers before moving to Qatar to play for a further two years. He is currently head coach of MLS side Atlanta United.

Ronald also followed his brother to Rangers and Qatar after his spell at Barcelona, but once he hung up his boots he took to a career in acting, where he played roles in a number of Dutch series. Now he is commentating for Fox Sports in the Netherlands.

Ruud Hesp

He played in goal 100 times for Barcelona between 1997 and 2000.

Nowadays, Ruud Hesp is a goalkeeping coach at PSV, although his current deal will expire at the end of the season.

Michael Reiziger

Michael Reiziger was also a part of the Van Gaal era at Barcelona, playing over 170 times for the club.

Like Frank de Boer, he started a managerial role, taking the job at Sparta Rotterdam's youth academy before returning to Ajax as B team head coach in 2017.