SC Heerenveen has traditionally been known as a club that has signed many talented players from Scandinavia. Johan Hansma, however, has noticed that this is becoming increasingly difficult. 'In Scandinavia, players have become much more expensive in recent years,' says Heerenveen’s technical manager. 'We were also aware of the lads currently playing on the wings for FC Twente (Sondre Ørjasæter and Filip Thorvaldsen, ed.), but they were no longer within our reach by a long shot. We can still bring in talent from Scandinavia, but we need to get involved even earlier in their careers. Once players have made their breakthrough, we can no longer afford them.’ Hansma is therefore also looking at other markets; for example, the French one. As technical director of Almere City, he had previously earned the nickname Johan Fransma after bringing several players from the French leagues and/or of French nationality to Flevoland, and he is also making use of his network in France whilst at Heerenveen. Before Hansma’s return, Heerenveen had never had a French player on its books in its entire history; now, with Maxence Rivera (photo), Lanroy Machine and Darling Bladi, the tally stands at three. ‘The French market is very interesting for us,’ says Hansma. ‘It’s a vast area with a large number of players, who are also very affordable. A few years ago, I spotted opportunities there and started building up my network. And when I look at my phone now, most of the messages I receive are from people in France.’ He recently received a text message from Thomas Robinet. ‘He was one of my first signings at Almere City and this summer, at the age of thirty, he made another brilliant move from Dunkirk to FC Nantes. Junior Kadile is now playing for a Champions League club (RC Lens, ed.) and I think Yoann Cathline is a great player for FC Utrecht. When we brought these lads to Almere, nobody knew who they were. They didn’t have any impressive statistics either, but even if they had, we wouldn’t have been able to sign them. So we have to be able to look beyond that.’ ‘I fully understand the supporters’ perspective: they see a new player coming in and want that player to make an immediate impact. But we’re not there yet at Heerenveen,’ Hansma makes clear. ‘We sign players in whom we see talent, and then it’s up to us to develop them into good players. That takes time, but it’s part of the phase we’re in as a club. We need to create value in this way and ultimately sell players on for a good sum. In my view, there are plenty of opportunities in France to get started in this way.’   submitted by   /u/Roller95 [link]   [comments]