please log in to view this image The 2013-14 season is over and with the World Cup ahead of us, this summer is going to be very tricky when it comes to picking the right transfer targets for the next one. In the Eredivisie, this is especially true, as this year has been one of exciting new talents but also of many players regressing or completely fading away. In my previous transfer targets blogs I was raving on about Siem de Jong for example, but he had an absolute nightmare of a season. Injured for nearly 70% of the season and in the games he played he was nowhere near last yearâs form. At 25 he is ready to go abroad but after a horrible year, he is a serious risk for managers: Injury prone and not in form for 12 months. Another case is Stefan de Vrij, and even though almost every top club is looking into buying him, I would strongly advise against it. The 22-year old centre back was out of form, especially in the first half of the season. He didnât seem to be concentrated or wanting to put effort into his development as a prospect. Manager Ronald Koeman gave him captaincy at the start of the season in August but it quickly became apparent that he was not ready to handle the responsibility and lacked character to lead. And after a couple of weeks the captaincy went to Graziano Pellè. Lazio is putting in bids for De Vrij who is in the pre-selection for the World Cup, but if he moves to a different competition, I have no doubt he will utterly fail wherever he goes at the moment, heâs just not ready. please log in to view this image De Vrij on his way to Lazio Roma? If there is one player ready to go its Graziano Pellè. He has been performing fantastically for Feyenoord and for a second season he punched in more than twenty goals. Even though he never really performed outside the Eredivisie, he has never seemed more focussed and had a higher work rate than this season. He carried the team to second place, and even sometimes got carried away himself. I blame the infamously renowned Italian Temper for what happened. [video=youtube;sEDqbmf8Ixc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEDqbmf8Ixc[/video] There are a lot of players that have regressed or havenât made any progress at all. At FC Twente there is only one player that should be on the targetâs list for this summer: Dusan Tadic. The 25 year old AM/RW is the best player in the team and he has got the experience and skills to make a decent player for the lower table teams in the Premier League. His technique and tactics are superb; he is a player that can turn a match around. And after another season where he did alright, I think he is ready to take the next step. But the biggest prospect of the league is Memphis Depay. This 19 year old winger from PSV has been absolutely magnificent this season. He is quick, his technique is brilliant and the fame and glory hasnât gone to his head. Unlike Adam Maher who has been a ghost this season and yet felt it was right still to have the stardom antics, heâs a definite DONâT BUY. But Depay has made tremendous progress this season and is a joy to watch, and probably the only one to watch at PSV. The club from Eindhoven arguably has the best squad in the Eredivisie. Yet this assembly of the best youth prospects in The Netherlands just fails to make it work. Maher, Wijnaldum, Bruma, Rekik and Willems have looked completely out of their depth and all had a horrible season and were very fortunate to reach fourth place in the competition after they were 10th in halfway through the season. The last target for this summer is Alfred Finnbogason. The striker is in his second season at SC Heerenveen and he bagged 29 goals this year making him the top scorer in the Eredivisie. Donât be fooled by that number, most of the goals came from penalty kicks. He has made progress this season but he still needs loads of chances to score. His finishing is superb but somehow seems very wasteful with the opportunities he gets. Last summer he tried to force his way out of the club but he has realized that antics donât help when youâre trying to get clubs to buy you. Since then he has been quieter, more mature, and to me he looks ready to make the next step. But I have my doubts about him moving to the Premier League, with the limited amount of chances and physical style of play in England, Iâd rather go for the German or Spanish league for Finnbogason. The bargains for this summer are few and risky. Ajax striker Sigthorsson has one year left on his contract and is seen as not good enough for the Amsterdam side. But even though he only scored 8, the ones has made were extremely crucial to win the league this season. He scored the winners against PSV and Feyenoord. But he is injury-prone and weak physically and in the air, but for 3 million GBP, could be a cheap risk to take. At Feyenoord Daryl Janmaat has played a solid season, probably the only defender in the Eredivisie that has made good progress this year. He will likely play in Brazil and Van Gaal seems poised to bring him to Manchester United. He also has one year left on his contract and so far he doesnât seem to want to extend it, so after a hopefully successful World Cup, could be the bargain of the year. He should be bought for his offensive qualities however, not his defensive where he can get caught out of position sometimes. He is a solid defender but his focus is on the attack. Now I will end this blog with the hot prospects. The first one is Zivkovich. 17 years old and already a star player for FC Groningen. This youngster was bought in the winter by Ajax and he will likely take over the position of Sigthorsson, this kid is the one to watch for next season. The talent he is showing already is truly fantastic and it just may be that we Dutch have our new super star striker(Iâve got some serious knock-on-wood to do now). The biggest talent though is Hakim Ziyech, this CM/AM from SC Heerenveen has his contract up next summer but he is far from ready to go abroad. This 21 year old has been outstanding this season along with 19 year old winger Bilal Basacikoglu. The two have been the driving force behind Marco van Bastenâs Heerenveen and supplied their top striker Alfred Finnbogason with a many sublime passes and crosses. The two players are consistently performing well and they make it look like theyâre having fun on the pitch. The other prospects to watch are Joël Veltman and Ricardo Kishna at Ajax. Veltman seems like the new Frank de Boer, agile, quick and mentally strong. He also screws up big once a match, usually to such extent that the opposition can score. At 22 years of age and with only one full season under his belt though, he looks like a good prospect for the next couple of years. Ricardo Kishna has been a first team player since March, but already the kid is turning heads in the Arena. His agility and top speed make him an excellent winger and he creates action on the pitch. Viktor Fischer is out of the picture and if Kishna can develop his talents next year even more, he will be one of the top targets for next two or three summers. Pricetags: Graziano Pellè 10 million GBP Memphis Depay 8 million GBP Dusan Tadic: 6 million GBP Siem de Jong 6 million Daryl Janmaat 5.5 million Alfred Finnbogason 5 million Stefan de Vrij 5 million Joël Veltman 4.5 million Sigthorsson 3 million Ziyech 2.5 million Basacikoglu 2 million Ricardo Kishna 1.5 million
Kostic at FC Groningen, havent mentioned him as he may be just a half season great and then fade away, depends on next season but looks like a brilliant left winger for the future.
Man Utd being linked to Jordie Clasie and Bruno Martins Indi. We were linked to them a couple of seasons ago...
There are some obvious choices to make, like Moisander, Bengtsson or Martins Indi, but I havent included them as there is no way to say if they would succeed in the EPL. They are at a level that they could go abroad, but theyll be a big risk to take. So yes, I expect another strip of talent, but not as big as previous years. We will probably have another group of kids going abroad way too early, like Ziyech or maybe even Clasie, but I dont even wanna go into that anymore.
I wouldnt compare him to zlatan, but Zivkovich does look like a world class player in the making, all depends on next season though
Just finished watching the Dutch under 21s side destroy Scotland 6-1. Very impressive performance. They looked like a senior side, moving the ball around quickly, stretching play and everyone around the ball was always working hard to make sure the man on the ball had options. Promes stole the show with a great hattrick but Ziyech(Cove mentioned him) came on and scored 2 great goals and I was impressed with Rekik the centre back, who also scored. Thought Ake and Van Ginkel were very good too but they're already at Chelsea and Rekik is signed to City which is a shame as they'll never get a look in there. Ah well, we'll just have to sign Promes and Ziyek. Not a great night for our Archer though, I thought he could've done better with a couple but the defence really weren't helping him and Promes and Ziyech had a couple of unstoppable strikes.
Missed this bit, Blind was always a midfielder in his youth and at FC Groningen, but LB at Ajax. Was indeed converted to a midfielder this season un, but not much special. Mediocre LB, average CM. High work rate and good mentality, but never will be a top class player.
Cheers for the info Cove, always enjoy a read of the Eredivisie (sorry for the late reply!) I'd have Depay in a heartbeat, seen a few of his games this season and judging from what I've seen, I can see him being the new superstar for the Netherlands in years to come. Looks a fantastic player. Last I heard of Zivkovic, he agreed a deal with Ajax didn't he? Or has the deal collapsed? I think I said in January that we should have had a look at Pelle and/ or Finnbogasson as potential targets, I'd probably lean towards the ice man due to his goal record being a bit better and doesn't hold the fiery temper like the Italian, PLUS we could've seen an Icelandic link up with him and Siggy. I know you've mentioned Veltman, but what about the other young CB at Ajax - Denswil? I saw him play against Milan where he scored from a header, though unfortunately haven't watched too many other Ajax games this season so haven't been able to get a proper assessment of what I think of the lad. May have asked you about Denswil in January actually and I think you told me but I've completely forgot (whoops), something just feels a bit deja vue'y .
On Zivkovich, read the blog once again, bit more carefully this time On Denswil, that was the last time I saw something good come from Denswil too, rarely played in the second half of the season when Moisander came back from injury. Needs one or two more seasons to say something remotely intelligent about him.
I'm a fool, **** knows how I missed that! Ahh fair enough, was hoping to hear he's the next Ajax starlet destined for stardom, guess I'll have to wait a bit longer to find out. Cheers as always Cove
