Marco van Basten invested twenty million euros in a Dutch bank in 1999. In 2002, in the middle of the financial crisis, he was only thirteen. He risked and the play went wrong. In 2001, the Dutch Tax Agency It also demanded 32.8 million euros in an imminent liquidation. His family couldn't believe it. In his autobiographical book, entitled 'Frágile, mi historia', and edited by Corner, Van Basten narrates his financial problems, worthy, as he himself says, from the movie 'The Wolf of Wall Street'.
Marco Van Basten (Utrecht, 1964) was one of the best players in the world during his spells at Ajax Amsterdam and AC Milan in which won the Ballon d'Or three times (1988, 1989 and 1992). Six Leagues, two European Cups, One Recopa, two European Super Cups, two Intercontinental and the European Championship with the Netherlands. In 2001 was on the brink of ruin.
A life full of sporting successes, going through the difficulties of a persistent ankle injury that made him retire earlier than planned, during which he did not consider that the time would even come for him to look for work when already retired. All fruit of bad investments, overconfidence and ignorance of which he speaks openly in his biography 'Frágil, mi historia'.
“I feel that it is a good moment to tell my story. From my perspective. Tell my truth. The story that I have never told. In it I will be able to clarify some things. I will not have mercy on anyone. And even less on myself. The time has come “, reflects the former Dutch footballer in the first pages of the book published by Córner, of the Roca Editorial group. On the 318 pages, Van Basten reviews his childhood, his “blind desire” to want to be the best in the world; his relationship with his compatriot and legend Johan Cruyff, which he replaced the day he made his debut with Ajax; of course, its endless Ankle injury; and unexpected financial problems.
“Mr. Van Basten is ordered to pay the present tax assessment of the Netherlands Tax Agency in full before December 31, 2001: 32.8 million euros“said the letter from the treasury that marked the beginning of the difficulties. He later discovered that it had its origin in his return to the Netherlands from Monaco in 1998 and that it was a penalty of 100% plus interest. “I did not understand why,” he acknowledges. Van Basten relied on his lawyer over Con Coster, Johan Cruyff's father-in-law, and on a large tax advisory society to avoid these kinds of problems, but nothing turned out as he expected.
A letter that coincided with the crisis at the beginning of the century, the attack on the Twin Towers and his investment in the bank. First he entered two million euros and, at the end of 1999, “everything”, more than twenty millionemphasizes in the book. In September 2002, he discovered that he only had 13 million left. The rest no longer existed, explains the player. They offered to hold on and try to recover from the blow, but chose to save your existing estate and start from scratch. After an arduous journey and new people around him, Van Basten reached an agreement with the Treasury in 2005. “Has anyone seen the Wolf of Wall Street? Later I understood that it was a bit like in that movie,” acknowledges the author of the beautiful and famous volley goal that gave the Netherlands the 1988 European Championship title against the USSR.