Utrecht 19yo Ramselaar impressing scouts
A young player we are undoubtedly keeping an eye on is RC Utrecht teenager Bart Ramselaar, who has been included by coach Danny Blind in the Dutch squad.
Utrecht have had a season that has exceeded all expectations. Like Tottenham they are a young side and have a young manager. They finished 6th in the Eredivisie missing out on the Europa League after losing the play-off games with Hercules. Holland operate a system where the third placed team (Feyenoord) qualify for the UEFA Europa league and the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place team go into play-offs for the remaining slot.
Ramselaar came through the youth academy at Utrecht and such has been his season that he is the only uncapped player in the Dutch squad. The 19-year-old (20 in June) is a right-footed attacking midfielder under contract until 2019. He scored 8 goals and had 7 assists this season.
Reading Dutch reports they say he has an exquisite first touch and a velcro-like command of the ball allied with the pace to get him away from his marker. They say he is a player constantly on the move searching for little pockets and channels for space to help a teammate or to change a game in a blink of an eye. That sounds like Eriksen and the movement is exactly what we need from our attacking players. We saw what happened at the end of the season when we had no movement, especially from the wide attackers.
Utrecht have had a season that has exceeded all expectations. Like Tottenham they are a young side and have a young manager. They finished 6th in the Eredivisie missing out on the Europa League after losing the play-off games with Hercules. Holland operate a system where the third placed team (Feyenoord) qualify for the UEFA Europa league and the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place team go into play-offs for the remaining slot.
Ramselaar came through the youth academy at Utrecht and such has been his season that he is the only uncapped player in the Dutch squad. The 19-year-old (20 in June) is a right-footed attacking midfielder under contract until 2019. He scored 8 goals and had 7 assists this season.
Reading Dutch reports they say he has an exquisite first touch and a velcro-like command of the ball allied with the pace to get him away from his marker. They say he is a player constantly on the move searching for little pockets and channels for space to help a teammate or to change a game in a blink of an eye. That sounds like Eriksen and the movement is exactly what we need from our attacking players. We saw what happened at the end of the season when we had no movement, especially from the wide attackers.
There has been much talk of the devastating partnership Ramselaar has formed with a striker we have been watching, as have half of Europe, Sebastian Haller. He is talked about as being a target of Ajax but FC Utrecht owner Frans van Seumeren suggests the Ajax interest in cool. He also understands he has to sell players to finance the club and wants at least £6.97 million (€9m - US$10.08m) for Ramselaar he told Fox Sports.
"Ramselaar has a contract for four years. I think, with all due respect to Feyenoord, Ramselaar is no longer in the same category as Toornstra."
Jens Toornstra is a 27-year-old attacking midfielder bought by Feyenoord (finished 3rd) from FC Utrecht for around £3.1 million (€4m - US$4.48m) in 2014.
The 21-year-old striker (22 in June) has been watched by German clubs, There have also been reports of Tottenham watching him as well as Sunderland and a host of other clubs. Rob Mackenzie does a lot of scouting work in Belgium and Holland as it isn't too far when you include France in a weekend'ss football watching.
MacKenzie will have seen a player perform in the big matches of the season and complete 84% of his passes, 70% of them being forward, impressive given the role he plays and how easy it is to pass sideways. An area he does need to work on is when doing his defensive duties, an important criteria within the Tottenham system.
Ramselaar is certainly a player to keep an eye on in the future with quiet discussions about his contract and any extension of it.
"The Feyenoord player would cost seven, eight million euros, so to buy Ramselaar nine or ten million. Financially Utrecht have to do a few transfers or a big transfer.
"Ajax do have phoned Haller's agent and said that they are quite interested, but they are also looking at other players."
The 21-year-old striker (22 in June) has been watched by German clubs, There have also been reports of Tottenham watching him as well as Sunderland and a host of other clubs. Rob Mackenzie does a lot of scouting work in Belgium and Holland as it isn't too far when you include France in a weekend'ss football watching.
MacKenzie will have seen a player perform in the big matches of the season and complete 84% of his passes, 70% of them being forward, impressive given the role he plays and how easy it is to pass sideways. An area he does need to work on is when doing his defensive duties, an important criteria within the Tottenham system.
Ramselaar is certainly a player to keep an eye on in the future with quiet discussions about his contract and any extension of it.
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