Everton appear to be going Dutch in their pursuit of a new manager with Ronald Koeman and Frank de Boer emerging as the two leading candidates to succeed Roberto Martinez but the two compatriots are quite different propositions.
Although the pair are both former Netherlands international defenders, whose playing clubs included Ajax and Barcelona, Koeman has held eight managerial positions in four countries over 16 years while de Boer's coaching career is so far just a single six-year stint with Ajax.
Bart Hinke writes for Dutch national newspaper NRC Handelsblad and having covered de Boer during his time at Ajax, believes that their recently-departed coach has so far been more rigid in his approach than his more experienced countryman.
Hinke said: “When de Boer was talking about a sabbatical it was a realistic option that he would travel the world and talk to great football men to try and reinvent himself as a manager because he must sense his style of play has been a bit too robotic at times.
“His game is very much based on possession football and passing so if what we hear about Everton over the past couple of years is true then I guess Frank de Boer is like a Dutch version of Martinez.”
No cup of cheer
Evertonians might be forgiven for breaking out in a cold sweat following that last sentence but given that success in a cup competition arguably remains the Blues most viable route to success, to make matters worse, there is the thorny issue of de Boer's blank cabinet when it comes to knockout trophies although there seems to be somewhat mitigating circumstances over his supposedly unimpressive CV in continental combat.
Hinke said: “De Boer did not win any Dutch Cups, just one Johan Cruyff Shield [the Dutch equivalent of the Community Shield].
“He hasn't won any silverware in the past two years which was a disappointing end to his career at Ajax even though in his last season he ended up getting the most points in his tenure. They finished second to PSV Eindhoven after failing to win at De Graafschap on the last day which was a great cock up.”
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He added: “I think it's a bit of a cliché to say de Boer failed in Europe though. In his first Champions League campaign he missed out by one goal which was a weird turn of events in the last group night when Lyon beat Dinamo Zagreb 7-1 so Ajax didn't qualify as a consequence.
“In another year he was in a group with the German champions, the English champions and the Spanish champions – Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Real Madrid – and he managed to get clear of City and get the third place and go into the Europa League but he's been a major disappointment in that competition.”
Easily forgotten?
At the time of writing, de Boer remains the bookmakers favourite to be the next Everton manager and Hinke believes that the 46-year-old might be well-advised to take a job quickly rather than embarking on the globe-trotting gap year he's alluded to.
He said: “I'm kind of getting the impression that he's really aiming for the sabbatical but I would probably say that's not a wise move for him because he'd probably be a coach who could be forgotten very easily if he drops out for a whole season.
“I think Everton and Valencia are his main aims to continue his career.
“If you compare de Boer to Ronald Koeman he is very much a typical Dutch manager.
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“He sticks to the 4-3-3 formation which he has been loyal to for a large percentage of games whereas Ronald Koeman has proven himself as an internationally established manager with a certain amount of variation and versatility in his style of play.
“That's the main thing I'm curious about whether Frank de Boer will travel overseas and whether he will try to continue with this cautious passing game.
“There was a fatigue and boredom with these tactics at Ajax. In the Eredivisie [Dutch top flight] it was very effective but in an international context it's not been very good, especially in the knockout phases of the Europa League.”
A straight-talker who won't over-use 'phenomenal'
While their devotion to patient, possession football might be similar, de Boer's articulation of those ideas is markedly different.
One of the peccadilloes of Martinez which increasingly grated with Evertonians was his continued insistence that all was well, with an over-generous usage of the adjective 'phenomenal.'
It seems there is no such sugar-coated delivery from de Boer.
Hinke said: “De Boer is an absolute media darling in that he always open and honest. He's always approachable and likeable, no-nonsense character.
“But he never really used the media in the way that the great managers would always try and get something out of the Press conference, getting a certain image across about the team with Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson being the masters of that.
“I couldn't see him having the depth to go to such lengths but he's a very well-respected manager.
“What you see is what you get, he's a straight talker and he doesn't tend to use too many big words.
“However I always thought he used the word 'philosophy' a tad too often in the context of Ajax. They've always been seen as possessing this incredible Johan Cruyff-influenced philosophy but probably nine out of 10 clubs in Holland have the same method so that's always been exaggerated.”
4-3-3 or bust or three at the back
Koeman has also shown more tactical flexibility than de Boer during his lengthier and more varied coaching career.
Hinke said: “Koeman is first and foremost a very Dutch guy in his playing style but in the last six games of the 2013/14 season at Feyenoord he used a fundamentally different 3-5-2 formation that at the time wasn't really known in Holland at all and Louis van Gaal went on to employ it at the World Cup.
“At the time Koeman was one of the first to reinvent this system. De Boer tried it at Ajax but he couldn't get the midfield straightened out and every time he played that system it was a bit slow and they were out of their comfort zone.
“You could see that these players were used to the Frank de Boer 4-3-3 system and didn't know what to do in any other situation.”