Aad de Mos has heaped praise on Dave Kwakman, as he made clear on Sunday on Goedemorgen Eredivisie. The retired coach even rates the AZ midfielder above team-mate Kees Smit.
De Mos believes Kwakman genuinely makes AZ better. ''I think he is a very good player. He actually already was, but he is soon going to go even further than Kees Smit. I think he is even better than Smit, absolutely.''
Having played with Kwakman at FC Volendam last season, Henk Veerman backs up De Mos's verdict. ''I really think he is fantastic. Truly a fantastic player,'' the towering striker enthuses in the morning programme.
''With us you could also see that he can defend well. We have not really seen that very often at AZ, of course because he is on the ball much more often there than he was with us,'' Veerman says, as he watches Kwakman really grow into his role at AZ.
Previously, Kwakman spent time on loan at FC Groningen. The midfielder made a strong start to last season at FC Volendam, but then had to spend months recovering from a knee injury.T
Now back at AZ, Kwakman is a fixture in midfield. Coach Leeroy Echteld has started him in each of the four official matches the Alkmaar side have played so far.