‘PSV 1 is my ultimate dream’

• Aaron Golub

  Follows PSV on behalf of NOS Sport

Now that PSV has secured a ticket to the preliminary rounds of the Champions League, things in Eindhoven will be about the vacant position of head coach. Adil Ramzi, coach of Jong PSV, is keen on the position: “If Mark van Bommel and Ruud van Nistelrooij got their chances, why shouldn’t I get them?”

Less than a week ago, the bomb burst in Eindhoven and Van Nistelrooij packed his bags. Ramzi worked closely with him in youth at PSV, but also after Van Nistelrooij became trainer of the first team. “I don’t know exactly what all happened. I also find it painful, because Ruud is a good friend of mine,” he said.

It is a well thought-out path through which the former player of PSV, Roda JC and FC Utrecht, among others, is currently going with the Eindhoven club. After PSV under 17 and a brief stint as assistant to the main squad, he joined Jong PSV as trainer in the summer of 2021.

“PSV is my club. I’ve been here for seven years and proved myself before as an assistant, and now at international level with Jong PSV.” By this he is referring to last Tuesday’s success, when Crystal Palace’s pledges were defeated 3-1 in the final of the Premier League International Cup.

Earlier that tournament, Jong PSV was also too strong for Manchester United (2-0) and Arsenal (7-2).

“Those are ingredients that create confidence with me. My ambition and ultimate dream is just to train PSV 1,” Ramzi made clear.

“Let me put it this way: I don’t run away from it. Sometimes things just fall right and that makes you think. If you ask me what I want, it’s in the direction of head coach. I’ve been close to trainers who were given a similar opportunity, who I think I’m further along in my development at this point.”

Ramzi says he can refute the argument, understandable to him, that he does not yet have enough experience. “I can understand everyone saying that now, but I don’t want to compare myself to others. Experience plays a part, but I believe in myself one hundred percent. Besides, with Phillip Cocu I can also give an example where it did end well.”

Cocu took a similar path in PSV’s youth as Ramzi is going through now. He only did it in a shorter time. After four years as youth coach, Cocu picked up six awards as head coach, including three national titles.

Ramzi also mentions the successes of Feyenoord coach Arne Slot. Before coming to Rotterdam in the summer of 2021, he had only spent a year and a half in front of the group as head coach at AZ. “He ended up in a very difficult and unstable situation at Feyenoord, for example, but he has a amazing job made of it.”

The former midfielder continued: “You can say: he has to go to a smaller club first and fill his backpack with experience there. That has something, but I also think it’s a cliché. Sometimes unique situations arise where you just have to dare. I know the club well and we had good performances this season. Then you want more.”

Bursting with confidence and ambition, the 45-year-old coach is eager for a possible challenge with the main squad. “I have my own vision and my own approach. If you put the right people around you from the beginning and manage them in the right way, I believe you can experience success together.”

The perfect place to achieve that success, the 26-time Moroccan international already imagines. “This club has all the conditions to be able to do that. I always believe, and I am talking about myself, that I am in control. But I have full confidence in the club and the management. I base that on the way they have always dealt with me.”