At the age of 17, Johan Cruyff made his first-team debut with Ajax. He felt nervous, but he knew he was ready. He had worked hard and progressed through the Ajax youth system to reach the first team. Today, he would announce himself to football.
Ajax were already down by 3 goals to none against Groningen when Cruyff was substituted in. As he stepped on the field, he took in a large breath and scanned the pitch. His inexperience did not tether his pride. He did not want to lose. So Cruyff started scanning the field, the players, and the spaces created. It was this focus that allowed him to reach a loose ball near the opposition's penalty area. His technique was unmatched even at this age. With his first touch, Cruyff cut across a wrong-footed defender, before striking the ball with his laces. On his debut, Johan Cruyff scored the only goal in Ajax's 1-3 loss to Groningen and announced himself to Dutch football.
Despite a record-setting, dismal performance by Ajax that season, Cruyff managed to prove himself. Next season, he gradually became an integral part of the starting XI. Seasons went by, and Johan Cruyff established himself in the broader footballing world. He played efficiently, with delicate touches and wonderful technique aiding his main asset, his intelligence. Every day, Johan never stopped learning, from improving his passing and shooting to learning new ways to go past opponents. Cruyff kept reinventing himself.
A breakthrough in Johan Cruyff's football came when the Ajax coach Rinus Michels introduced him to the concept of Total Football. Cruyff resonated with the fluidity of Total Football, that any player could fulfill any role required in the game state. The defenders must know how to progress, and the attackers must know how to defend.
On the field, Cruyff led the revolution of Total Football. His mentality, his decisions, and his technique adjusted to this new identity. From Ajax, Cruyff adapted this system to the Dutch national team. The renewed Cruyff burst into the upper echelons of football, becoming one of the best players of his era. Yet to Cruyff, it was never enough. He needed to keep walking forward. He wished to play football that bore an identity as strong as his personality. Football, to Cruyff, was not a means to an end; football was the purpose in itself.
Contrary to the success on the pitch, Cruyff faced the difficulties and hardships that often define the lives of rebels like him. His strong personality was full of contradictions; he was a purist and a pragmatist, he was a realist and an idealist.
With time, Cruyff's relationship with the Ajax management turned turbulent. He was rigid in his views and refused to compromise. Soon after he was not voted captain by the team, Cruyff decided to leave. And yet, as one would come to expect from him, Johan refused the more expensive transfer to Real Madrid that the Ajax management wished for. Instead, he went to a club that was still struggling in the post-Franco era. A club with a strong identity and clear values. Johan Cruyff chose FC Barcelona because it was more than just a club.
Johan Cruyff was destined for Barcelona. He was enamoured by the strong identity of FC Barcelona and the history of its progressive Catalonian movement. He was not afraid to adopt the movement and integrate with the Blaugrana identity. Johan instantly became a Catalan favourite when he named his son Jordi.
Soon after joining, Cruyff led Barca to its first league win in 14 years. He influenced the Barca identity with his background of Total Football, while he was influenced by the strong values required from the football played by Barca. While the setting changed, Johan's football remained. He reunited with Rinus Michels and transformed the FC Barcelona team. Cruyff kept developing the team and himself, reaching ever closer to the idealistic and pure football he envisioned. And then… And then he retired.
Stints in the US and back in the Netherlands followed his return from retirement, where he shone once again, but they were all tinged in the shade of the twilight of his career. However, what followed was the rise of a brighter star: Johan Cruyff, the Coach.
Cruyff returned to football as a youth manager at Ajax. He learnt, failed, and relearnt as he reached ever closer to fulfilling his footballing philosophy. Then, he made his inevitable return to Catalunya. In Barcelona, Cruyff found his haven. In Cruyff, Barcelona found its saviour. Together, they changed football forever.
Cruyff remodelled the entire club, from the youngest teams to the main team. The entire youth system of Barcelona began to play attacking, possession-based, total football. Every player attacked with the ball and defended without it. They created their own spaces with delicate passes and aesthetic intent. All this, Cruyff achieved with a Barca struggling with financial and political problems. Much as he did as the beloved player, Coach Cruyff took unprecedented risks that led to the most wonderful of rewards.
Johan Cruyff brought in players like Romario, Ronald Koeman, Hristo Stoichkov, and, most importantly, Pep Guardiola to create the Dream Team. This Dream Team went on to win 4 consecutive league titles along with a European Cup.
Before their European Cup win at Wembley, Johan Cruyff's words to his players personified his brand of football —
"Go out there and enjoy yourselves!"
Cruyff left Barcelona as its most decorated manager, only to be surpassed by his protege, Pep Guardiola. He capped his footballing career in the most poetic of manners by coaching the Catalan team from 2009 onwards.
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Johan Cruyff left a legacy that did not just affect the way the entire world played football, but also influenced many pillars of football.
Pep Guardiola, one of the greatest managers of all time.
Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets, one of the greatest midfield of all time.
Lionel Messi, the greatest footballer of all time.
And now, Jordi Lloret, the boy who would reign over football.