JAAP STAM

CLUBS

1992-93 Zwolle

1993-95 Cambuur

1995-96 Willem II

1996-98 PSV

1998-2001 Manchester United

2001-04 Lazio

2004-06 Milan

2006-07 Ajax

COUNTRY

1996-2004 Netherlands

MANAGER

2014-16 Jong Ajax

2016-18 Reading

2018-19 Zwolle

2019 Feyenoord

2020- FC Cincinnati

Jaap Stam never made an appearance for the Netherlands at youth level, but it didn’t stop him being considered the world’s best defender by his mid-20s.

For almost a decade, the monstrous former stopper dismantled the deadliest attacks in England and Italy. Besides his on-pitch achievements, Stam’s career was intertwined with intriguing events: his Manchester United career began in a Dutch flat and then ended in a petrol station in Cheshire. In Milan, the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – who also happened to own the Rossoneri – would sometimes fly in by helicopter to make guest appearances at training.

It would have all been very confusing for a 19-year-old Stam, who snubbed second division side Zwolle’s offer of an amateur contract to focus on becoming an electrician. A year later, he relented.

“If it didn’t work out, I thought I could always go back,” he smiles now. Seven years on, Stam was conquering Europe.

He didn’t expect to manage when he retired either, but then took Reading to a play-off final, and was unveiled as the new boss of MLS side FC Cincinnati last month. But before that, he had time to answer FourFourTwo readers’ posers…

Having made a slightly late start to your career, which moments helped you to progress?

Freddie Thornton, via email

I was about 20 when I signed for Zwolle in the second tier. After only a season I went to Cambuur, who were then in the Eredivisie. Two years later, I was at Willem II – it was all quick. Everywhere I went there was scepticism at the start, with people who weren’t sure whether I could handle the step up. I always had to fight against that and prove myself, but it kept me on my toes. In 1996 we beat European champions Ajax 1-0, and that was a significant moment. It ended their 52-match unbeaten run.

Ajax once scouted me when I was playing for amateur side DOS Kampen, but they didn’t offer me a contract. It would have been a huge step, though, and I wonder just how far I’d have gone had that happened to me at a young age. By staying at home I was able to continue with my studies and still go out with my friends. Looking back now, it was the ideal preparation for life as a professional footballer. After only six months and about 20 appearances for Willem II, PSV came calling.

In 1996-97, you won the title