Okay, full story: Falkenburg played for Sparta Rotterdam five years ago. Along with Kevin Strootman, Nick Viergever and Lerin Duarte. The 2009-2010 season proved to be the rise and rise of these four players. Scouts from all the Eredivisie clubs flocked to Rotterdam to see them and the rest is history. Strootman went to FC Utrecht, PSV and now AS Roma. Duarte went to Heracles Almelo and transferred to Ajax last Summer, and Nick Viergever went to AZ Alkmaar and even made it to the Dutch national team.
Erik Falkenburg was the only one that never lived up to his potential. The guy just lacks class overall, and at AZ, 2 different managers trialled and tested him but all deemed him unfit for the top in the Eredivisie. He may have good stats on paper but missed thousands of chances before he finally scored. The guy's finishing, vision and tactics are below par. He tries to compensate that with his work-rate but as soon as things go sour in a match, so does he mentally. He just gives up from time to time. He has decent technique to give good passes, long crosses and shots from range. But he rarely does, except for this season as he has been in form lately. But mind you, he hasn't been in form 3 years before this season. I have no doubt that if he moves to the EPL, I'm still pissing myself laughing of people even linking him with Norwich, he will fail miserably.