Van der Gijp emphasises why PSV and Feyenoord must perform in the Champions League

René van der Gijp is sometimes taken aback by the standard in the Vriendenloterij Eredivisie. The analyst from Dordrecht hopes Dutch clubs perform well in Europe to give football in the Netherlands at least some standing.

On Monday's KieftJansenEgmondGijp, Van der Gijp says: 'It's important that PSV and Feyenoord do well in the Champions League. Because the league is declining so sharply now that scouts come back to their clubs and say: this is no good at all.'

'And you can see that in the 9-0 scorelines,' says Van der Gijp, referring to FC Twente's 0-9 win over Excelsior on Sunday. 'That's all well and good. But people who read that say: what's going on with the Dutch league?'

The former forward continues: 'You can only paper over that with the Champions League. If they say in Italy that Feyenoord had the upper hand against Como. And PSV beat FC Porto. So those Portuguese newspapers still write that good football is being played in the Netherlands.'

'But if that falls away too, you'll see that the big fees of €40 million or €45 million stop coming in. People will say: what does it prove that you can get past Fortuna Sittard's left-back?' Van der Gijp warns of harder times financially in the Netherlands.

At the end of his analysis, Van der Gijp says: 'Ajax were, of course, stripped of their players because of that Champions League semi-final.' He is referring to 2019, when Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt were sold for tens of millions after a successful year in Europe.

Wim Kieft joins the discussion: 'Ajax have always relied on their own youth players. And now a few youngsters are coming through again. Ouazane is developing into a good player. Mokio is doing well. And Godts was a good player.'