Five of the best players in the Eredivisie
The Eredivisie might not be a league that qualifies for dividend pay outs but don’t dismiss the importance of following the news to come out of Holland. The league does lack top level competition week in week out but it gives players access to competitive senior football that they wouldn’t necessarily get elsewhere. A lot of those players slip under the radar of many traders on the Index. Here we give you five of the best players in the Eredivisie.
Number 5. Sergino Dest, £1.61
12 months ago the name Sergino Dest wouldn’t have meant much to anyone. He hadn’t featured for the Ajax senior side and only made his breakthrough this season. He’s done it in style too. The full back, who can play either side, is nimble footed, has a burst of pace and always looks to drive forwards. Six assists and two goals show he has an end product as well. He’s only 19 though and isn’t the finished article – particularly defensively – but that hasn’t stopped clubs watching his development. It’s plausible a move might not come this summer but links with Bayern Munich do seem to carry some weight.
Number 4. Denzel Dumfries, £0.90
Dumfries plays most of his games at right full back but spends more time going towards the opposition goal. Since joining PSV in the summer of 2018, Dumfries has chipped in with 12 goals and created 11 more for his teammates. Sure, those stats would likely drop a bit with a move to a big league but if you want to rip off the Liverpool model then full backs who can threaten in the final third are a must. Dumfries has that desire to hurt teams in his DNA. It’s hard to teach.
Number 3. Donyell Malen, £2.54
Malen, 21, has been knocking in goals in the Dutch top flight for a couple of years now. Last year he bagged 10 league goals and five assists, which seems like a modest return initially until you realise he only played 962 minutes. He’s gone to new levels this season though and despite PSV losing much of their attacking talent he has carried the burden to the tune of 17 goals and nine assists in 25 games across all competitions. With Arsenal sniffing around their one-time academy attacker, his price could go boom.
Number 2. Calvin Stengs, £2.44
Stengs’ promising start to pro football was halted when he suffered a cruciate injury eight minutes into the 2017/18 campaign. That injury kept him out for 15 months. He worked his way back into the side in the 2018/19 season though with his pace and trickery a real weapon on the right wing and five goals and four assists in the remainder of the season justified the hype labelling him one of the best players in the Eredivisie. This season has seen him feature in every game and he’s been the main man at AZ. Fellow Dutch side Ajax are showing an interest. They face competition though as a total of 10 goals and 12 assists (including five and four in the Europa League) this year has put him firmly in the sights of clubs in the top five leagues with Barcelona reportedly keen.
Number 1. Donny van de Beek, £2.62
There is just no getting away from it; van de Beek is one of the best players in the Eredivisie. If not, the best. Last year, he was a key ingredient in the Ajax team that were moments from the Champions League final. He never jumped ship to a bigger side with teammates Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt the star names to move on. It looks like it’s van de Beek’s turn this summer though. He’s had another good campaign at the heart of Ajax’s attacking play and over the past three seasons he has laid on 30 goals and, with the aid of his Lampard-esque timing, has bagged 40 for himself. There will unquestionably be clubs across Europe lining up for his signature. Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus have already been linked. Regardless of where he ends up, it will definitely be in the top five leagues and almost certainly at a top club too.
There you have it, five of the best players in the Eredivisie. Where is your money going?