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NOS Football•
More than ever, the news of the past transfer period no longer came from the traditional media, but from a new phenomenon: the so-called transfer gurus. “A worldwide empire is being built”, it sounds from that angle.
The best known is Fabrizio Romano, the Italian transfer specialist with 11.6 million Twitter followers. He scores one scoop after another. Think of him as the world leader. Meanwhile, the transfer gurus are also working hard in the Netherlands.
“I had brought that there was a conversation between Ajax and Hakim Ziyech in Amsterdam. Then I received a message from people around Ziyech. The conversation had just finished five minutes and it was already online. They almost applauded. Ziyech himself also thought: how then ?! That’s a kick.”
Gerjan Hamstelaar
Gerjan Hamstelaar is speaking. At least that’s his pseudonym. A mixture of Gerry Hamstra and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the technical leadership of Ajax.
During the past transfer period, @Hamstelaar’s Twitter account aroused surprise with his knowledge of the state of affairs within Ajax. He was the first to spot almost all the newcomers. “A lot of people really think I’m Gerry Hamstra.”
The reality is different. Although Hamstelaar wishes to remain anonymous, he does tell a few things about his life over the phone. He works as a sales manager, has a family and is an Ajax player in heart and soul.
When a friend of his becomes an agent, Hamstelaar finds it interesting. Gradually he gets to know more and more football agents. And since he is often in the car for his job, he has plenty of time to make a phone call here and there.
“Before I knew it, I built up a whole customer base with agents and people in and around Ajax. I noticed that they occasionally liked to give me info, because I am anonymous. After a while I decided to do things that I managed to start publishing.”
What Hamstelaar is to Ajax players is Twitter account @1908nl (formerly @FeyenoordTM) with the website of the same name for Feyenoord players. If you want to know what your club is up to, you have to keep an eye on that account. It brings in tens of thousands of followers.
The administrator behind that account is no longer anonymous. “They figured me out. At one point my address was online. Even that of my primary school. So I thought: I’ll get ahead of them before they immediately show up on the doorstep,” says Rutger Vinke.
‘Making fellow Feyenoord players happy’
Like Hamstelaar, Vinke is a passionate football fan. A Feyenoord season ticket holder with an office job in the port of Rotterdam. “I just like to hunt for scoops and make fellow Feyenoord players happy with news.”
Vinke follows Feyenoord everywhere, up to Krasnodar. “Then you get to know a lot of people. We were only there with fifty Feyenoorders. We sat there in the hotel bar with guests of the ‘Friends of Feyenoord (investors, ed.) and policymakers. Then you sometimes hear something.’
Vinke’s network is getting bigger and bigger and he decides to do something with it. From the moment that he was the first to report the arrival of Marcos Senesi in 2019, things have been going fast and he has been a leader in Feyenoord news.
“We are now in an enormous group app with guests throughout the country, which means that we have contact with 95 percent of all agents in the Netherlands. We filter the news and check everything with multiple sources. Hamstelaar is also in that group,” says Vinke.
The two transfer gurus have since become friends and work together every now and then. For example with the transfer of Quinten Timber from FC Utrecht to Feyenoord.
Spotted in Kloese in Galgenwaard
“Someone in my network had spotted director Dennis te Kloese at the Galgenwaard. So I went to check that with sources and they fell silent. Then you’re usually right. So I started thinking about who it could be and then came up with Timber.”
“A week later I called a source and the other went for a bite to eat. One admitted that they really wanted Timber. And the other said he couldn’t comment. Then I knew: Feyenoord was after Timber. “
After Vinke has brought the news, there is silence for a while. Until he gets a call from competitor Hamstelaar. “He called me to say that Timber had rejected Ajax, because he was going to Feyenoord.”
“I checked it with my sources and later realized that everything was settled. Then I was able to say that Feyenoord had trumped Ajax and had a bite with Quinten Timber. I love to bring that up.”
It sometimes turns out the other way around, Hamstelaar says about the arrival of Florian Grillitsch to Ajax. Feyenoord was also interested in the transfer-free midfielder from Austria.
“Rutger called me to say that Feyenoord went full for Grillitsch. But I had news for him, because I knew he would go to Ajax. Grillitsch had a conversation with trainer Alfred Schreuder that night before.”
Sometimes Hamstelaar is even too quick for the agents. “Grillitsch’s agent did not know anything about the choice, but a day later it turned out that he was indeed going to Ajax.”
The transfer specialists. We can no longer ignore it. So they often trump traditional media. But how come? They think because they, as supporters, report more positively than the journalists and are therefore more likely to be awarded a scoop.
While Vinke likes to continue hunting for firsts and prefers to expand his platform, Hamstelaar has doubts about his future. “It eats up a lot of energy, in addition to a full-time job and family.”
Global Empire
And the influence of transfer gurus will only increase in the coming years, predicts Hamstelaar. “We do not only have mutual contact at a national level, this goes much further than the Netherlands. An empire is being built worldwide.”
Anyway, the identity of Hamstelaar remains a mystery. “You hear the craziest theories and I just like that. I get it too, because it has become a kind of myth. People think my info must come from the club, but do you really think Gerry Hamstra is calling me? “
