Use your head and sign up now for the Everton FC newsletter Sign up now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

When it comes to a head-to-head shoot-out between the two Dutch candidates to be the next Everton manager, Ronald Koeman's ability to deal with high maintenance football geniuses like Zlatan Ibrahimovic demonstrates his greater adaptability according to Bart Hinke of Amsterdam-based newspaper NRC Handelsblad.

He said: “I was talking to de Boer about managing temperamental talents and he told me that 'if you produce the goods then you can be as difficult as you like but if you don't deliver I'll knock on your door.'

“That was the first thing that came into my mind when he's compared to Ronald Koeman, I'd be really curious to see how de Boer would have handled the Ibrahimovic situation at Ajax if he'd have been in charge then.

“Koeman really handled that well, he gave him just enough of a chance to live up to his potential. I know it's hypothetical but I think de Boer would have probably given up on him at an early stage.

“The example of Ibrahimovic is probably his biggest triumph with a troubled kid. He was 16 and he did not give up on someone who clearly at the time was very difficult to handle.

“They had a very talented group at the time with a guy from Egypt called Mido and also Wesley Sneijder and he reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League with those kids.”

Verbal volley

As well as the arm around the shoulder, Koeman is not averse to publicly criticising his players if he feels the need to and the old school 'rocket up the backside' has been shown to work.

Hinke said: “The thing about Koeman's managerial style is that every once in a while he will use the media to set someone straight.

“When he was at Feyenoord I remember he extremely critical of one of his defenders Stefan de Vrij who a year later would go on to get in the World Cup team of the tournament a year later in 2014.

“He really broke down his game in public, telling him he needed to be more merciless in one-on-one situations, which was very edgy for the player at the point of being insulting.

“Koeman really turned de Vrij around and got the best out of him that season. He doesn't shy away from these public dust-ups.”

A train that only comes around once

As well as being the only man to play for and coach all of the 'big three' in the Netherlands – Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord – Koeman has coached in Portugal with Benfica and Spain with Valencia before arriving in England with Southampton in 2014.

Hinke said: “The only club Koeman really failed at was AZ after van Gaal. It's known that following on from van Gaal is a very difficult job if you have a bit more of a relaxed take to management which happened to Guus Hiddink with the Dutch national team.

“Koeman has not really been the man who wants to establish himself as the long-term one club man.

“I don't know if it's a deliberate tactic of his but when he was at PSV he was famously quoted as saying when Valencia approached him that 'it was a train that only comes around once.'

“That's kind of been the motto that has stuck with him but as it turns out these trains come and go and he's been everywhere over the past decade.

“I was really surprised that Everton was aiming for a manager who was so secure in his position at Southampton and that they'd actually dream of him being there but maybe I'm not reading the situation right at what the potential of Everton would be.”