Ever since the sale of Yohan Cabaye to Paris St Germain in January, 2014, Newcastle United have cried out for a play-maker who orchestrates the team from the middle of the park.
Jordy Clasie, 23 year-old Feyenoord Captain is that man, the midfielder The Magpies need in their side to put his foot on the ball, get his head up, pick out and execute a pass and begin dictating games the way Newcastle should especially at St James’ Park.
Like Cabaye, he has a steely edge and devilment to his game and is renowned for his tough-tackling and dispossessing of opponents, breaking up plays and starting his own.
He would be the perfect compliment to left-footed Jack Colback alongside Cheick Tiote or Mehdi Abeid – Newcastle are well off for purely defensive midfielders yet could do with more guile, vision and craft to go with Moussa Sissoko’s attacking athleticism and penetrative runs.
Pacy wingers and forwards like Sammy Ameobi and Gabriel Obertan, Rolando Aarons and Ayoze Perez would also benefit greatly from Clasie pulling the strings and providing the bullets.
Clasie’s game intelligence and passing range with either foot mean he would thrive in The Premier League and his dead ball ability to whip in dangerous free kicks and corners is something else Newcastle have missed since Cabaye departed.
In an increasingly Dutch dressing room at St James’ Park, Clasie could also play a similar off-pitch role to Cabaye, who knitted the French invasion of Tyneside together with the club’s English core.
Tim Krul, Siem De Jong and former Feyenoord team-mate Daryl Janmaat are at the club already and a 4th senior Dutchman – in an ideal scenario, cash plus Vurnon Anita would see a swap deal take place in summer – would give the dressing room a distinctive international Oranj flavour.
The Vurnon Anita experiment in English football has not worked.
Saturday’s penalty given away inside 30 seconds at The Etihad was the third spot kick Anita has conceded since he joined the club and the other two were in similarly high-pressure games away to Chelsea in August 2012 and home to Sunderland in the derby in February, 2014.
His overall display showed a man out of his depth and the diminutive Anita against the Manchester City monster Yaya Toure was the nightmare scenario Newcastle fans have often used as a valid reason for the player not being suited to the hurly-burly of The Premier League.
In Premier League terms, he is The Invisible Man, bypassed easily by the opposition and Newcastle are a man down in any game in which he starts.
Clasie is only half an inch taller at 5ft 6in yet half a stone heavier and better equipped to deal with the requirements of The Premier League engine room warfare due to a natural composure blended with a competitiveness as spiky as his Mohawk hair and love of putting his foot in.
With 11 Holland caps so far, Clasie is the real deal: that was shown in The World Cup Semi-Final in Brazil when he came on after an hour against eventual finalists Argentina and set about nullifying Lionel Messi and injecting life into Holland in a game which was decided by penalties
Even more impressive was his lofted 45-yard pass that set up Robin Van Persie’s volleyed goal in a World Cup warm up against Ecuador that was compared to ‘Paul Scholes in his pomp’ as the Clasie to Man U rumours hit overdrive.
Dutch football correspondent Marcel van der Kraan could not rate him any higher:
“Clasie is a sort of Cesc Fabregas player and, probably, the best player in the Dutch league.”
Nicknamed ‘the Dutch Xavi’ he also been likened to Barcelona’s midfield metronome and Andreas Pirlo and while he humbly plays down all transfer speculation and player comparisons, the similarities are there to be seen and with it the ambition.
Destined for bigger things than Feyenoord, who were just knocked out of The Europa League by Roma, he has been linked with former boss Ronald Koeman at Southampton, Man United and Spurs yet with a name like Jordy and the opportunity Newcastle could give him, St James’ Park could be the perfect fit for this composed and Clasie player.
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