Last updated June 30, 2026 by Antonio Sanchez
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink He spoke clearly again about Atlético de Madrid, Diego Pablo Simeone, the Premier League and the football he experienced as a striker. He did so in an interview with Flashscore, signed by journalist Tolga Akdeniz, a conversation that deserves slow reading because it connects several layers of retro football: Atlético at the end of the nineties, the Premier before becoming an even more sophisticated global product and the evolution of the center forward in modern football.
Hasselbaink was not just any forward. It was power, dry hit, character and a very direct way of understanding the area. He went through Leeds United, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, el Middlesbrough, Charlton and Cardiff, in addition to wearing the Netherlands shirt. His career moved between two worlds: the physical and vertical football of the nineties and the beginning of a stage in which clubs began to measure everything in more detail.
That is why the interview has interest beyond current events.. It's not just a former player giving his opinion on the present. He is a scorer who experienced tough locker rooms, defenses less protected by the regulations and leagues where the forward had to create space with blows, unchecking and personality.
Hasselbaink and Atlético: a season that left its mark
Hasselbaink's time at Atlético de Madrid belongs to a particularly intense period for the club. He came in 1999, He scored important goals and had a painful season, that of the red and white descent. Even so, His memory of Atlético continues to have weight because he was one of those forwards who connected quickly with the stands: strong, competitive and with a punch that could change games in a matter of seconds.
In conversation with Flashscore, The Dutchman speaks about Atlético from a mixture of respect and realism. It does not present the club as an economic machine comparable to the richest giants in Europe, but precisely for that reason he values Simeone's work even more. Your idea is clear: Competing at the top for so many years without always having the same financial muscle as other clubs requires emotional management., huge tactical and competitive.
The phrase that summarizes that look is brief and forceful.: “What Simeone is doing is magnificent”. Hasselbaink understands that the Argentine coach has built something that goes beyond titles. It has turned Atlético into an uncomfortable team, recognizable and competitive in scenarios where before the club could appear as an emotional contender, but not always as a sustained threat.
For the Retro Football reader, That reflection has a special reading. The Atlético that Hasselbaink knew was not the Atlético del Metropolitano, of the recent European finals and a much more established global identity. It was a powerful club in feeling, but unstable in sports. The comparison with the Simeone era allows us to understand to what extent the international perception of the team changed.
Simeone, the culture of competing and the value of an identity
Hasselbaink and Simeone shared a dressing room as players at Atlético. That connection gives his opinion another nuance.. He doesn't just talk about a coach seen from the outside, but from someone whose competitive mentality I already knew from within. Simeone transferred many of the virtues he had as a footballer to the bench: intensity, concentration, collective pride and an obsession with not giving anything away.
The modern Atlético has been built on that basis. You may like it more or less on an aesthetic level, but it is difficult to deny its coherence. Hasselbaink seems to value just that: that the club has found a way to compete against rivals with a bigger budget and, even so, stay in the European conversation for more than a decade.
That idea connects with many retro football stories.. The equipment that survives in memory is not always the most luxurious, but those who have a clear identity. Simeone's Atlético has that condition: is recognized by his way of suffering, close spaces, attack moments and turn each round into a mental battle.
The Premier that Hasselbaink lived no longer exists
Another very interesting part of the interview has to do with the evolution of the Premier League. Hasselbaink arrived in England at a time when the championship was much more physical, with aggressive defenses, less referee protection and a rhythm that punished any doubt. Their football required forwards capable of colliding, run, hold central and define without too many comforts.
When you compare that Premier with the current one, The Dutchman points out that “it has become less physical”. The phrase should not be read as simple nostalgia, but as a diagnosis. English football remains intense, but now it is more structured by data, pressure plans, load management, rival analysis and much more controlled tactical preparation.
In the Hasselbaink years, The striker had to resolve many actions with instinct. Today the attacker works within more complex systems, with more prior information and with rivals who study every move. That doesn't mean that today's football is easier.. It means that it requires other tools. Before the shock weighed more, physical one-on-one and the ability to prevail in direct duels. Now tactical reading is also important, coordinated pressure and decision-making in increasingly smaller spaces.
Chelsea, Leeds and the striker from another era
Hasselbaink was one of the Premier League's great forwards before Chelsea definitively became a global power with the arrival of Roman Abramovich.. His time at Stamford Bridge retains a very specific flavor: that of an ambitious club, with strong figures, but still different from the Chelsea that would dominate England and Europe in later years.
In Leeds he also left an important mark. That Leeds at the end of the nineties was a young team, intense and competitive, a club that seemed prepared to grow in Europe before its financial problems changed course. Hasselbaink fit very well into that landscape: fast forward, strong, with a shot from outside the area and enormous confidence to assume responsibility.
That attacker profile seems almost retro today. Not because there are no longer powerful forwards, but because the role has changed. The modern nine participates more in the pressure, go down to connect, interprets automatisms and lives more conditioned by collective structures. Hasselbaink represented a more direct figure: receive, spin, attack, hit. A striker who commanded respect before even touching the ball.
Netherlands and the view of a demanding generation
The interview is also valuable because Hasselbaink belongs to a Dutch generation that grew up with extremely high demands.. Netherlands has produced attackers, elite midfielders and defenders for decades, but he has also experienced significant frustrations in big tournaments. For a former international like him, Talking about current football means looking at the present with the weight of a very strong tradition.
His international career coincided with years of enormous Dutch talent. He did not always have the prominence that his club figures could suggest, but it was part of a competitive ecosystem full of huge names. That is another key to understanding his speech.: Hasselbaink does not look at football from the comfort of myth, but from the experience of someone who had to fight for every space in clubs and national teams.
Why this interview matters for retro football
The best thing about the Flashscore interview is that it allows you to cross past and present without turning the memory into a postcard. Hasselbaink speaks from the memory of tougher football, but it also recognizes the dimension of modern work. It does not idealize everything old nor despise everything new. His gaze has value because he understands both worlds.
For Retro Football, This conversation acts as a gateway to several stories.: Atlético before Simeone, the Premier of the late nineties, Chelsea prior to his great transformation and the type of forward who dominated with power and hitting. It also helps to understand why some players continue to be remembered even if they do not always appear on the most obvious lists of legends..
The original source is entrevista de Flashscore a Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Realizada por Tolga Akdeniz. from there, retro reading is clear: Hasselbaink represents a way of competing that no longer looks the same, but that continues to explain a lot of current football.
More stories to follow the thread
If you are interested in the transition between the nineties and modern football, It is also fitting to read the context of Ronaldo and 1998 and the final against France, the story of Brazil 2002 con Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho and the review of USA t-shirts 94 as an object of worship. All those pieces speak, one way or another, from a time when football began to become the global product we know today.
Hasselbaink leaves a very powerful background idea: football changes, but real competitiveness still depends on character, adaptation and memory. That's why his voice is interesting. Because he doesn't speak from theory, but from who was the forward on nights where there were not many possible explanations: or you won the duel, or you disappeared from the party.
