Many failed transfers from the Eredivisie to the Premier League. Is Manchester United’s path the right one?

After Manchester United announced a new coach in Erik ten Hag, it was clear that he would try to bring in some players from his former place of work where he was very successful. However, a number of recent transfers on the Eredivisie – Premier League route cannot be so positive.

The most expensive player to ever leave the Netherlands for England is Davinson Sánchez, who joined Tottenham in the summer of 2017 for €42 million. The Colombian rock played almost every game he could in his first season, but after that his time on the pitch started to shorten and he is only starting to fulfil his potential again under Antonio Conte, who let him hit 32 games.

Sánchez’s move to the Premier League certainly can’t be judged as a failure, not helped by the problems at the club of course, but it was certainly expected far more than he has shown so far, which is a fairly common occurrence in recent years.

The second and third places were taken by the duo of Hakim Ziyech and Donny van de Beek. While the former played 44 games last season, the latter played just 21, and several of those at Everton, where the Red Devils sent him on loan.

However, the Moroccan winger born in Dronten, the Netherlands, managed to score only 8 goals and assist 6 more during this large portion of games. Ziyech can be assessed very similarly to Sánchez, much more was expected and this will probably cost him a transfer elsewhere.

Moving on, Memphis Depay, Steven Bergwijn and Davy Klaassen are all some of the most expensive players to move from the Eredivisie to the Premier League, but they didn’t make a dent there.

This is of course not to diminish the quality of the top Dutch league, which has produced a great many great players for world football. However, recent deals have been more beneficial to the seller than the buyer. Of course, we have to take into account the poor seasons of the clubs themselves, led by Everton and Manchester United.

Hague’s favourites

Ten Hag has made Ajax a really big buck, mainly thanks to the sale of the pair of Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt, who together cost more than 170 million euros. It is the Dutch midfielder who is now being lured to Old Trafford by his former coach as he looks to take advantage of Barcelona’s poor financial situation.

Manchester United are then also set to be strengthened by Lisandro Martínez, who is expected to bring order to the centre of defence. The left edge of the defence has then already been secured by Feyenoord’s Tyrell Malacia, who featured in both duels against Slavia.

All three reinforcements can definitely be said to have the potential to play an important role at Old Trafford in the coming years. But the same was said of van de Beek or Depay. So even here there can be no doubt that one player does not make a success.

Among the most expensive transfers from the Eredivisie to the Premier League we find a number of unsuccessful players, but Luis Suárez or Ruud van Nistelrooy save the day.

Source: Transfermarkt, Premier League