FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Whether it be directly or indirectly, the trio of Wesley Sneijder, Wayne Rooney, and Nani all played a part in bringing Dutch left back Alexander Büttner to the New England Revolution.
Sneijder, long one of the world’s top midfielders and a fixture with the Dutch national team for 15 years, called Büttner to pitch him on the idea of playing in the United States, and specifically with the Revolution. Büttner, in search of a new club and an admirer of Major League Soccer, was all ears.
“I know Sneijder well (from our shared time at Ajax), so he just gave me a call and he talked about the club,” Büttner said via phone from Amsterdam on Tuesday.