Van der Gijp extremely cynical towards Tadic after row over comments about NEC

René van der Gijp couldn't believe Dusan Tadic's criticism of his NEC team-mates. Wim Kieft took a different view of the outspoken forward on Monday's KieftJansenEgmondGijp.

Last week, Tadic aired his frustrations in a much-discussed interview with NU.nl: "It's harder to have weaker players around you. I regularly make moves to set things up and don't get the ball. Or I don't get it back. Apparently my brain works too quickly,"

Looking up the 37-year-old NEC forward's career, Van der Gijp responded sarcastically: "Every time I hear Tadic talk, I look him up on Wikipedia. And then I think: FC Groningen, FC Twente, Southampton, Ajax. I don't see Real Madrid on there. And I don't see Arsenal or Juventus either,"

Kieft could understand to some extent why Tadic was unhappy with the standard of coach Dick Schreuder's squad: "He certainly thinks very highly of himself. And, of course, there isn't a word of it that isn't true,"

On Tadic's status as an Ajax icon, Kieft asked: "Ajax are a bigger club than NEC, and they have better players. I think Tadic is a good footballer, but is he an Ajax icon?" "When it comes to icons, you look to the team of 1995 and the 1970s."

Van der Gijp joined in: "Icons are people like Willy van der Kuijlen. People like you, Wim. You won the European Cup 1. People who have achieved something of that magnitude. But winning the title with PSV is no achievement."

For all that, Kieft refused to tear Tadic to pieces on the podcast: "He's a very proud lad. I don't think he's a bad lad. Absolutely not, not at all,"