As the 2022/23 season draws to a close, clubs around Europe will be expected to already be drawing up plans for how their squads will look next season.
The Mirror quote Man United manager, Erik ten Hag’s words from his pre-match press conference before the Everton game, which hint at exactly that.
“I already said – of course we are working in the back on this summer, but in this moment we don’t have to focus. It’s about now. It’s about whether we are in the right spot,” the Dutchman said.
The outlet also note that a delegation from the Red Devils were at the recent De Klassiker cup match between Feyenoord and Ajax, but they weren’t the only Premier League club with representatives in attendance.
It’s believed that scouts from West Ham, Tottenham, Brentford, Brighton and Leicester were also there, and all six sets of scouts were there to avail themselves of the talents of Feyernoord duo, Orkun Kokcu and Santiago Gimenez.
The Dutch side are powering towards the Eredivisie title, and that’s surely as much to do with ten Hag moving to the English top-flight as anything else.
Indeed, the Dutchman will have been aware of the pair during his time at the helm of Feyenoord’s biggest rivals, and opponents during the week, Ajax.
At just 22 years of age, Kokcu has an impressive eight goals from 25 Eredivisie appearances this season, per WhoScored, despite playing as a defensive midfielder.
That’s just one less than Gimenez (via WhoScored), in the same amount of overall Dutch top-flight games, despite the Mexican being a striker.
It isn’t clear at this stage whether either player will be available for sale this summer, but with the Dutch league generally considered inferior to its English counterpart, with respect, if Kokcu or Gimenez want to test themselves against the best that Europe has to offer, they’d do well to consider any approach.
Moreover, Kokcu’s weekly salary of €6,154 and Gimenez’s €16,154 per Capology, would surely be small change compared to what they could earn at Old Trafford or elsewhere.