Kluivert Unsure of Future At SJP

By Carys Baptist
February 21 2005

Patrick Kluivert has hit the headlines today by announcing that he is unsure whether he will stay in the Barclays Premiership due to the different pace and style of football.

 

Patrick Kluivert has hit the headlines today by announcing that he is unsure whether he will stay in the Barclays Premiership due to the different pace and style of football.

 

The striker claims to be unsettled and is finding adjusting to the new style of play is taking longer than he anticipated.

 

“The campaign is very long and I still have time ahead of me to adapt. At the end of the season I will decide if I will continue here or not.

 

I miss the Spanish league because I prefer the way the game is played there.

Here there are too many long balls and it has been difficult for me to adapt.”

 

Kluivert who scored the winning (and only) goal against Chelsea yesterday came to Newcastle after six years at Barcelona has said he will make a decision at the end of the season.

 

Fellow Dutchman Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink believes that Kluivert is still not at his best:

 

"He has a lot of ability but it has not been showed yet by him,

I know what he can do.

 

You have to ask him whether he wants to go back there [to his best form].

He is playing for a wonderful club so there is no lack of motivation.

 

I think it's difficult to say but I know he has a lot of ability. I think it's more [to do with] upstairs, rather than ability itself."