Great footballers from the Netherlands have shone in foreign Leagues over the years. Many names come to mind such as Johan Cruyff (Barcelona), Marco Van Basten (AC Milan) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United). A common destination for elite Dutch footballers was Spain's La Liga. Those days appear to be over for now.
The graph below shows the number of Dutch players that were available for La Liga clubs from 1992-2015. After the Bosman ruling there was an increase in the number of Dutch players to the league. A wave of famous imports included international players such as Clarence Seedorf, Roy Makaay, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Michael Reiziger, Phillip Cocu, Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars and Edgar Davids. I'm sure everyone would agree that this was a great generation despite their lack of international success.
For the first season since 1992 however, no Dutch player is available to play for a La Liga club this season. Barcelona owned Ibrahim Afellay is contracted in Spain but has been loaned to Greek side Olympiacos. Also, there are no la Liga head coaches or managers that are Dutch. Maybe this is a reason for the absence of Dutch imports? There are currently 3 EPL managers that are Dutch and 14 Dutch players play in the EPL.
It could be explained by other reasons also. Perhaps there are deeper workings that relate to retaining talent domestically for the Dutch? Maybe the Dutch are not producing like they used to ? They stole a march on many countries with their training methods and talent development programmes historically, perhaps the rest have caught up?