Michael Reiziger has no intention of saying any more about the KNVB's decision to overlook him and appoint Xavi instead. Speaking to NOS, the Netherlands Under-21s head coach pointed back to the statement he recently posted on Instagram.
"I made my statement and that settles it for me," Reiziger emphasised in the interview on Tuesday. "I am fully focused on the Netherlands Under-21s, because we still have an important job to do with them."
That statement saw Reiziger weigh in on the widely discussed debate around the Netherlands head coach job. The former defender was accused of lacking experience at the highest level.
Most of all, Reiziger was irritated by the views of "people who do not know me at all and do not know how I have worked at my clubs and what I am now doing at the KNVB". The Netherlands Under-21 coach is glad he spoke out last month. "It was good that I made my feelings known. That statement was how I felt at the time and why I wanted to share it."
"Of course, you get used to some of it," said the former Jong Ajax coach, with whom he won the title in 2018. "You know that working at the highest level at the KNVB always provokes reactions. A great many people who do not know me well, or do not know me at all, suddenly started talking about my way of working."
He also responded to whether the criticism aimed at him was justified. "If I had not done my job properly, I would not have been a candidate either. At a certain point, a choice was made. That settles it for me as well."
In the end, the KNVB chose Xavi as Ronald Koeman's successor. The Spanish coach makes his debut on Thursday, when Germany visit Amsterdam in the Nations League.