I waited a couple of weeks with this thread as the Dutch league ended on the last Sunday of May, with the play-offs for European football and relegation played the time is nigh to write an update on all the players in the Eredivisie, which ones will likely go, all the bargains and the super talents that you should be watching closely for the next couple of years, here are the Eredivisie Summer transfer targets! please log in to view this image Ajax won their third consecutive Eredivisie champions title this year and every summer manager Frank de Boer had to deal with a decimated team by the end of the Summer transfer period. In 2012 Vurnon Anita, Jan Vertonghen, Theo Jansen and Gregory van der Wiel were sold. In came Niklas Moisander, Viktor Fischer, Christian Poulsen, Lasse Schöne and Ryan Babel, yep the same Babel who played for Liverpool. De Boer had four Danes to select but the main question will be for Ajax: how many will there be left at the end of the Summer? Christian Poulsen was on a two year contract till 2014 and probably won't get a new contract as he is 32 years old, which doesn't fit Ajax' policy to develop youth players for the first squad only. Super talent Viktor Fischer already extended his contract to 2017 and has in his first season attracted a lot of attention from the scouts of the big clubs. The third Dane Lasse Schöne has a contract till 2015. But the main issue in Amsterdam is Christian Eriksen, after four seasons with Ajax the young Dane feels he is ready for the next step. For Ajax there is one draw back in selling the player: he has one year left on his contract which practically means a 50% off price deal will be made to make at least some money in a transfer. That being said: Eriksen will definitely be the bargain of the year, originally valued between 20-25 million pounds this youngster might leave the Amsterdam Arena for 7 to 9 million tops now. Liverpool, Dortmund and a couple of of clubs have already enquired at the club and the chance that of a sale this summer is next to 99% or higher. Other top talents at Ajax are Siem de Jong and Toby Alderweireld. De Jong is an all round player: DM/CM/AM/ST/RW, he is one of the most versatile players in the Eredivisie and clubs in the Bundesliga will be handing in their bids for the player in June and July, who has two years left on his contract. If Ajax want to cash in, his market value is between 13 and 16 million pounds, they will have to do it this summer or they will face the same situation as they are in now with Eriksen. Moving on to Toby Alderweireld, with one year left on his contract, this 24 year old Belgian has a couple of options in the Premier League as a couple of clubs are interested in signing him, Spurs, Liverpool and even ManU have are rumoured to hand in a bid for the defender. Though the latter club seems extremely unlikely to do so. The Dutch press however thinks he is likely to go to the Serie A join Maarten Stekelenburg at AS Roma or go to Internazionale. The player has one major downside, and every scout probably knows it: he is no Vertonghen, which will lower his price to 4 maybe 5 million pounds. The last of the Summer targets at Ajax is Kenneth Vermeer, the goalie from Suriname who plays for the Dutch National team says he is ready for the Premier League or the Spanish League. With two years left on this contract this 27 year old was rumoured to be on the 'to watch list' for Aston Villa, Arsenal and even FC Barcelona. Mainly due to his reflexes and line stopping this goalkeeper is a very similar player as Michel Vorm at Swansea. To summarize this all: It seems likely that half of the above mentioned player will leave Ajax this summer and even though Frank de Boer extended his contract to 2017, most of his players will be gone and he will have to start rebuilding again. Footnote: Even though Ricardo van Rhijn had a great season at Ajax, at 21 and just one full season I can't see him leave the club at this stage. With a contract to 2015 I can see him extending his contract for a couple of years and move on in 2 or 3 years from now. please log in to view this image This picture above sums up the talents in the Eredivisie. Some came through this season and some horribly failed. But lets start with the first one, Jeroen Zoet, this 22 year old talent is part of the next generation of top goalies from The Netherlands. After two years being loaned out to RKC Waalwijk he will return to PSV this summer and he might just play. Boy Waterman's contract runs out and Tyton was benched the entire season. He is the goalie to watch in the 2013-2014 season. Lets skip Van Rhijn and move on to Patrick van Aanholt, who had a decent season at Vitesse Arnhem. Loaned out by Chelsea but the player is keen on extending his loan for another year. He has improved immensely this season both in attacking and defending and I could see Chelsea wanting to sell the player this summer, could be a bargain for any lower table club. The fourth player: Tonny Vilhena is one of many Feyenoord youth players that have come through this season and some of them are heavily scouted in the past few months. Vilhena along with Boëtius, Clasie, Mulder, De Vrij, Martins Indi and Janmaat have all shown incredible progress despite their youth, 21 on average, they look very mature and composed on the pitch. De Vrij recently extended his contract with a year and Feyenoord is keen on cashing in this summer, but not at all costs. Jordy Clasie is a pain in the butt so far for Feyenoord, refusing to sign a new contract he has only one year left on his current. Either Feyenoord have to sell him or watch him walk out for free next year. Contract negotiations have been going on for months now but Clasie deems all offers so far as unworthy of a player of his stature and he demands higher wages. This 21 year old gutsy player on the pitch may be small, 5 foot 6, but his stamina and mentality is incredible. Feyenoord are in a tough position which could force them to sell, and this in turn could be a big bargain. Adam Maher, in the previous editions of my transfer target blogs I named him as a priority target and this summer it looks like it's finally time for him to leave AZ Alkmaar. Ajax are keen to replace Eriksen and are eager to get Maher but PSV Eindhoven are also in the hunt for this 19 year old midfielder which will cost them a lot, between 7 and 10 million euro's, for the Eredivisie that is silly money. PSV are also wanting to buy him because they will likely sell off half their squad this summer, they other half's contracts are running out. Waterman, Van Bommel, Bouma, Engelaar and Hutchinson will leave the club this summer as free agents. Pieters and Toivonen have one year left on their contracts, Lens, Mertens and Strootman are heavily linked with Premier League clubs, and PSV are very keen on selling as they are in big financial problems if the EU court rules that the financial support through Eindhoven County was illegal. PSV will have to repay 42 million euro's if that happens. Most of the players have contract till 216 or 2017 but Marcelo, Zanka and Tim Matavz all have been deemed light weights and may be sold cheaply this summer. The last player in the picture is Luciano Narsingh, who experienced a season he will soon forget, injured for 6 months, benched by Dick Advocaat but in the games he did play he still showed he is a top talent. And he is the man to watch next season if either Lens or Mertens are sold. please log in to view this image No I haven't forgotten him, I just saved the best for last: Wilfried Bony. He is going, to where? No one knows. Vitesse managed to hang on to the Ivory Coast player but they have to let him go this summer. The Eredivisie top scorer in the 2012-2013 season has made up his mind in the winter but no bids came in. With 31 goals this year he was watched by scouts from every major club in Europe. With two years left on his contract the clubs will have to pay the price for this player, somewhere between 10 and 18 million pounds. There is no possible way to put an accurate price tag on him as Chelsea might have a discount as Vitesse is their satellite club. Bony isn't the only target at Vitesse however. Marco van Ginkel, Gael Kakuta and Renato Ibarra have all been linked with clubs in the Premier league and are all names to watch this summer or next season. Kakuta is like Van Aanholt on loan from Chelsea but Ibarra and Van Ginkel are potential bargains as they are young with a lot of potential, but not as hyped as Bony or Eriksen. To conclude this blog we move to FC Twente where there are two players that are worth mentioning: Tadic and Chadli. These two attacking mid fielders have carried Twente this season and are both technically as tactically possibly the two best players in the Eredivisie. Chadli is maybe a bit injury prone but Tadic has been very constant and has been a key player for Twente this season. Chadli is already heavily linked with Fulham and Shakthar Donetsk. Another player that deserves mentioning is Douglas, this central defender has been neutralized to play for the Dutch National squad but due to a somewhat disappointing season he hasn't been selected by Louis van Gaal and his contract is running out this summers. So this is a bargain all right, but maybe not the kind a club wants, or needs. The very last name in this blog is Leroy Fer, after a deal with Everton fell through in the winter the player is still keen to make a move to England. I personally doubt it will happen but with Moyes gone, maybe a couple of players will follow which means that Everton might have a go at him again. And that's it! You've been briefed for this summer, hope you enjoyed the read!
Cheers for the info, Cove. Interesting stuff. I'm sure that there's a few players on that list that we'll be looking at. Could be a real exodus from the Netherlands this summer.
To be honest, maybe once in my lifetime, which is for another 60 years. I wouldn't be able to tell when that is exactly. Main problem is that the Dutch aren't renowned for their boldness any more. It's all bland and there's no risk taking any more. No balls to aim high, young hot talents come and go, sold off to get money and build buffers for the future, but that future never comes. There is no Portugal like do-or-die mentality in The Netherlands or the Eredivisie. No exorbitant wages, no out of the ordinary deals, a lot of soap opera but nothing that effects football European wide. It is a trendsetting league but that's about it. If Ajax go through another exodus this summer than don't count on it for them to make European Champions in the next 5 years. Bit depressing isn't it...
If you are old enough to remember the Ajax team of the early 1970's, as I am, it's a bit sad. That team included players like Cruyff, Neeskens, Haan, & Krol. The team that won the European cup three years running from 1971-3. You could almost say the team that revolutionised football.
We were linked to Jordie Clasie, Jerson Cabral and Georginio Wijnaldum last summer, whilst Stefan De Vrij and Bruno Martins Indi were linked to us a month or so ago.
Cabral tried to screw over Feyenoord, the club traded him for Wesley Verhoek with FC Twente and at Twente he completely disappeared into anonymity. Wijnaldum had a very, very, very, VERY bad season at PSV. Just couldn't deliver even though Toivonen was injured for 4 months and he had all the playing time he could possibly wish for but he let himself and PSV down. Disappointment of the season is how I would call his performance, not even worth a mention in my blog. And then there is Clasie. Like I said, great player but already gota big mouth for someone who hasn't been tested in Europe or any big games. There are some similarities with Cabral in that manner. Let's hope he doesn't go down the same road because that would be a big waste of talent to be honest.
I like the look of PSV's Jurgen Locadia. He's only 18/19, big lad and got a hat trick on his league debut I think. Got about 10 goals in 20 games (all comps) this season.
Made a good first impression but haven't seen enough of him to give a full report. Memphis Depay however is the bigger talent of the two and I rate him pretty high. Fast and agile player with good technique. Needs to work on his consistency though.
Vaguely Eredivisie related: please log in to view this image Are our Belgians tapping up some of their countrymen? The non-Spurs players in the pic are the failed Goon captain and Dries Mertens. The picture's in New York, apparently.
One problem with Depay, though - he posts photos of himself online like this one... please log in to view this image
Only seen Depay play once. Does look a great talent though. Ronaldo-esque in my opinion with his fancy foot work. Biggest talent in Holland right now though is Viktor Fischer. Genuine class. Skill, pace, ability to finish and create. It won't be long until Bayern/ Barca/ Utd etc come knocking I reckon.
Cove, what's your views on Marco van Ginkel of Vitesse? When I was in Amsterdam a few months back, I spoke to a few Ajax fans before the Ajax-PSV game who were saying van Ginkel was a player to watch. Not seen anything of him bar a bit of YouTube. One of the future you reckon?
To be honest, I don't see it yet, it's hype in my opinion. The guy has good technique and good tactical vision but his speed, physique and overall quality is not really eye catching. Really can't see why people are so fussed about him. Though he is 21 and he is showing good development, there are better midfielders in the Eredivisie like Clasie, De Jong, Strootman and Maher. He is in the same league as Toornstra, Wijnaldum, Fer and Kirm: needs a lot more experience and progress to get to the Eredivisie top.
