The Netherlands Euro 2024 squad faced further disruption a day after their 4-0 win over Iceland with the news that attacking midfielder Teun Koopmeiners has been forced to withdraw from the squad due to an injury he picked up in the warm-up. The Atalanta star scored 12 goals and registered five assists in 29 games in Serie A this season.
This comes after Frenkie de Jong was ruled out of this summer’s tournament with an ankle injury. Last Word on Football looks at the Chelsea star who has been called up in the Barcelona midfielder’s place and who might take Koopmeiners’ place in the Netherlands squad.
Netherlands Euro 2024 Replacements: Maatsen In
Ian Maatsen Call Up May Suggest Formation Change
Blues star Ian Maatsen has been called up to Euro 2024 as a replacement for De Jong. The 22-year-old had a successful loan spell with Borussia Dortmund during the second half of the season, becoming a key player as they surprisingly made the Champions League final. The full-back played for Burnley during 2022/23 term and will hope to continue his rise by making his Oranje debut during the tournament.
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Maatsen is not a direct replacement for the injured Barcelona star, he plays a completely different position. The 22-year-old does give the Netherlands squad a natural left-back, Centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Nathan Ake filled in at the position during warm-up games against Canada and Iceland. The lack of defensive-minded midfielders in Ronald Koeman’s squad may cause him to change formation.
The Netherlands squad contains six centre-backs who would start for most countries at Euro 2024. Virgil van Dijk, Matthijs de Ligt, Ake, Stefan de Vrijj, Van de Ven, and Daley Blind all had good seasons at club level. However, in the friendlies, Koeman played a 4-3-3 formation. This left room for just 2 of his high-quality centre-backs.
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Maatsen is more comfortable playing as a left-wing-back than Blind, who played in the role the last time the Netherlands used wing-backs against Germany in March. Koeman is blessed with quality options at right-wing-back. Denzel Dumfries and Lutsharel Geertruida both provide the creativity the Netherlands will lose by replacing an attacker with an extra centre-back.
Koeman Faces Tough Decision Over Netherlands Euro 2024 Replacements
With the news of Koopmeiners’ injury, Koeman needs to add one more player to his Euro 2024 squad. The extra name should be one of the players dropped from the Netherlands’ 30-man provisional squad announced in May. The four left out were Maatsen, Nick Olij, Marten de Roon, and Quinten Timber.
The Netherlands are struggling for numbers in midfield, so the battle to join the Dutch team in their Wolfsburg training camp would have been between the latter two. However, De Roon has been suffering with a knee injury and Koeman will likely not want to call up another player with fitness concerns.
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22-year-old Timber has just one cap for his country and will add to the number of inexperienced players in the Netherlands squad should he be called up. The Feyenoord midfielder scored 7 goals and registered nine assists in the Eredivisie this season.
Latest Netherlands Euro 2024 Squad
Goalkeepers: Bart Verbruggen, Justin Bijlow, Mark Flekken
Defenders: Lutsharel Geertruida, Daley Blind, Micky van de Ven, Stefan de Vrijj, Nathan Ake, Matthijs de Ligt, Virgil van Dijk, Denzel Dumfries, Ian Maatsen
Midfielders: Georginio Wijnaldum, Ryan Gravenberch, Tijjani Reijnders, Joey Veerman, Jerdy Schouten
Attackers: Xavi Simons, Wout Weghorst, Memphis Depay, Cody Gakpo, Jeremie Frimpong, Donyell Malen, Brian Brobbey, Steven Bergwijn
