Johan Cruyff [Digital]
The high priest of football, when all is said and done, there may be no man who's had a greater influence on the modern game than Johan Cruyff.
But long before his mind was coveted for its forward-thinking, progressive attitude, Cruyff had to cut his teeth at Ajax. From Vic Buckingham's grand understatement that he was "a useful kid", the forward rose to turn his beloved Ajax into the world's finest team. It preceded a sport-defining move to Barcelona, a premature retirement, and an Indian Summer back in the Eredivisie (at Feyenoord, no less).
Between all that came 1974. Perhaps the zenith of Cruyff the footballer, the World Cup in West Germany brought him immortality - and it altered the Dutch approach to football forever. No more the perennial outsiders, Cruyff had them flying - if a little too close to the sun.
But the journey didn't end with dirty boots hanging in the changing room. Doubted as to whether he could cut it as a manager, Cruyff sought to prove his critics wrong, taking Ajax to European glory and later devising a blueprint for success at Barcelona that still dominates the club to this day.
Featuring:
- Ajax: 1964-1973
- Barcelona 1973-1978
- The golden memory of watching Johan Cruyff play live
- Netherlands
- How the Johans, Cruyff and Neeskens, changed football forever
- The US diaries: 1979-1981
- The homecoming at Ajax and Feyenoord: 1981-1984
- Ajax manager
- Barcelona manager
- Legacy
- 14 immortal Cruyff quotes
- Cruyff's greatest kits
- Cruyff by data
- The faces of Cruyff
- ... and much more
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