FCBARCELONA.CAT

17.07.2009 11:09

Toni Bruins: “Barça have made a great signing”

Jesús Carrillo

Toni Bruins, who assisted Johan Cruyff at Barça and was then assistant manager at Ajax to Ronald Koeman says he delighted that FC Barcelona have signed Maxwell, who he worked with at the Dutch club.

Speaking to www.fcbarcelona.cat, Toni Bruins Slot said “I congratulate everybody at Barça that was involved in the Maxwell deal. It was a good move because he’s the ideal kind of player for Barça and Josep Guardiola”.

“He will adapt quickly”

Toni Bruins believes Maxwell “has all the right things to play for the best team in the world, which without a doubt is Barça right now. With Ronald Koeman at Ajax we discovered him for European football. He is very intuitive, very attack-minded, he plays well for the team and can play the ball well.”

Bruins also said that when Maxwell was at Ajax, “he showed us what he could do from the first day. He covers and extraordinary amount of ground, playing all along his wing, switching in seconds from full back to winger. And his crosses are excellent.”

“It’s the ideal moment”

Toni Bruins added that Maxwell “came to Holland as a left winger”, but he and Ronald Koeman decided that in European football, he would fit in better as a left back.

If he were to play in a more attacking than defensive role, he might have struggled in Dutch football. “But this changed one hundred per cent when he started playing in such a peculiarly defensive league as the Italian one”, commented Bruins Slot. Cruyff’s former assistant added that, “he has become a more complete player at Inter, and so I think this is the ideal moment for him to make this move to Barça”.

Practical and resolute

The Dutchman then observed that Maxwell “masters football like few others, and learned the kind of philosophy promoted by Cruyff and practiced by Koeman. He will adapt perfectly to the passing, positional and attacking game that Barça play under Guardiola”.