Sometimes, the tutorials were physical and not just verbal. There were insights beyond what a spectator, or even an average pro, would see. There were moments in his living room when Cruyff rearranged the furniture and used cutlery, salt and pepper and even cigarette packets to illustrate a point.

When asked at what stage he might attempt a 40-yard pass as Germany’s Günter Netzer imperiously did, Cruyff responded: “I don’t answer. First, tell me who the pass is for?”

He meant which Dutch colleague was in which position on the field. This, remember, was the gestation of “Total Football” — the soccer attributed to Coach Rinus Michels as he revolutionized tactics with Ajax and the Netherlands and later Barcelona.

The essence was that players rotated within the team. A fullback like Ruud Krol might appear on the wing, a winger like Piet Keizer might drift inside and Cruyff might pop up anywhere.

So, if the nimble Keizer was the recipient of the long pass, then yes, Cruyff would hit it. If it was another, slower individual, Cruyff would instead run forward with the ball, take out an opponent or two with his hyper-quick mind and movement and then pass for a colleague in free space.

Total Football meant total integration of the mind and the footwork. Coach Michels encouraged it, but players had to initiate it.

Cruyff learned it on the streets near Ajax’s old De Meer stadium. He was a child laced to the ball. His father died of heart failure when Cruyff was 12, and the boy decided then to opt out of formal schooling. His mother was a cleaner at the stadium, and Johan was on the streets, whirling around lampposts, bemusing older kids, living his game and inventing his own moves. Jan Olsson needn’t think he was the first, or the last, to be flabbergasted by those moves.