Recently, Dutch defensive legend Jaap Stam gave an interview to FOOT ITALIA. He criticized the inflated transfer fees of today’s football players and reflected on the events surrounding the “Miracle of Istanbul.”
The conversation started with the topic of transfer fees. He said, “AC Milan paid €11 million to sign me from Lazio. If that were today, my transfer fee would probably be around €100 million. If you compare it to some of the transfers today, I think my value would have been more than €100 million. As for the quality of players, there’s no comparison.”
The discussion naturally moved on to the night in Istanbul. He said, “It’s always hard to talk about this. It proved a fact that even a seasoned championship team can fall into chaos after conceding a goal. For a while, you feel like you’ve lost your soul. In the end, you lose the whole match.”
Stam continued, “Overall, we played a great game, and even after they equalized, we had chances to win. But that’s football. Once the trailing team gets going, they gain confidence and believe they can score more goals. During those six minutes, we lost our balance, we were exhausted. Liverpool took advantage and scored consecutive goals. It’s a huge scar in my heart because you remember deeply the games where you lost in the Champions League final, not the ones that made you champions. Personally, I remember the 2005 final loss more vividly than winning the Champions League with Manchester United in 1999.”
When asked about the reactions of his teammates after the match, he said, “It’s not common, but it happened. You could call it the beautiful side of football, but for us, it was a dark period. We felt very bitter.”
Stam: My Transfer Value Today Would Be Over €100 Million; Liverpool Knocked Us Off Balance in 2005. Author：Sports UEFA.Please indicate the source when reproduced：https://www.sportsuefa.com/football-world/25498.html
