In Good morning Eredivisie National coach Ronald Koeman has confirmed that Luuk de Jong will not be part of the final selection for the European Championships in Germany next summer. He completely rules out a return after several calls between De Jong and Koeman.
Ronald Koeman and Luuk de Jong have known each other for quite some time. As trainer of FC Barcelona, he brought the striker from Seville on loan. After being dismissed from Barcelona, Koeman was appointed national coach and then received a call from his former pupil.
‘More time for family’
“He found it difficult to say, but he then indicated that he wanted more time for his family. He is getting a year older, etc., etc.,” says Koeman. He continues: “I thought that was a shame. After that, Luuk himself left the door ajar in the media. Then I called him to ask if that was the case. That was not the case. Then I told him to call me. if he wanted to make himself available again, but that is now a thing of the past. It is no different.”
“Brobbey serious option to start with”
So no De Jong at the European Championships in Germany, but there is plenty of choice in terms of strikers. The fact that Memphis Depay has returned from several injuries is very good for Koeman: “I often have contact with Memphis because he was of course very important in my first period. You see him getting fitter. He is a player with extra qualities, which are decisive was and can be for us. He can also play on the left.”
To the yes/no question, Koeman replied that Memphis is not necessarily his first striker in the upcoming European Championship. “I don’t know yet who my first striker is. I’ll see. You can’t expect that for me now either. I have to speak to the players first before I can say whether it will be Wout Weghorst or Brian Brobbey.”
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Koeman sees Brobbey’s development: “Serious option to start with”
National coach Koeman closely follows the development of Ajax striker Brian Brobbey.
Koeman did not mention Joshua Zirkzee’s name and so Hans Kraay Jr. asked. to the peak of Bologna. “We are closely following him. He gets a lot of freedom, drops in a lot and is not always in the striker. He is not always in the box where he should be, because he is a striker who plays football. If you look at Brobbey, for example, He is making excellent development and is getting fitter. He had two very important moments against PSV. His assumption was not entirely good, but the follow-up was. He is of course so incredibly strong and fast. He also had something in the second half. too much difficulty with his recruitment, so he does not create a real open chance. So it is a serious option to start with him this summer.”
A system in which Zirkzee and Brobbey play together is a possibility, but is not preferred by the national coach.
Can play multiple systems
The system has been talked about for a very long time. Yet Koeman does not want to talk about a system in the run-up to the European Championship. The 60-year-old national coach has played two systems in his second term and also believes that his group should be able to play in both formations.
“It can be both. A group must be able to play two systems. The media is so tightly tied to systems. In the Netherlands you always have to talk about the choice of a system. Abroad it is much less important. In today’s football it is demanded that you can play multiple systems. The Dutch school is not a 1-4-3-3 for me. That means that you want to be dominant, take the initiative and apply pressure. You also need such wingers for that formation.”
That is precisely the ‘problem’ with the Dutch team, Koeman says: “We have a lot of boys who want to play on the left. And we have very attacking backs. We always want to play with a ‘box’ in midfield. Then you have it about two sixes and two tens, but that could also be a winger who comes inside and a back who plays higher. At Barcelona we also played a period with three central defenders and did not lose nineteen games in a row. Then it was also everywhere one-on-one across the entire field. We won the European Championship in 1988 with two strikers. Then I didn’t hear anyone talking about three strikers.”
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2024-02-04 09:38:46
#Koeman #Luuk #Jong #European #Championship
