Joshua Zikrzee is missing from the Netherlands’ wider nomination for the Euros. What does the full squad look like?

Dutch national football team coach Ronald Koeman has announced the preliminary 30-man squad for the upcoming European Championships. This time, he also left out Italian Bologna’s goal scorer Joshua Zirkzee, who has had a good season.

The squad has thirty names, but Koeman will have to scratch at least four of them. Currently he has nominated 4 goalkeepers, 10 defenders, 9 midfielders and 7 strikers. Georginio Wijnaldum, who moved to Saudi Arabia before the season, also has a chance to play in the final championship. Joshua Zirkzee, on the other hand, was not enough, so Koeman continues to ignore him.

Who will step between the sticks?

The Oranjes manager has some interesting players among the goalkeepers. Probably the biggest candidates for the number one position are the pair from the Premier League – Bart Verbruggen and Mark Flekken. Experience speaks in favour of the latter, although the 30-year-old Brentford goalkeeper has not yet started in a major tournament.

Twenty-one-year-old Verbruggen from Brighton got his chance at the end of the qualifiers. Both goalkeepers played one game in March. While Flekken scored zero against the Scots and contributed to the 4-0 win, the Netherlands lost 1-2 to Germany with Verbruggen in goal. Justin Bijlow from Feyenoord and Nick Olij from Sparta Rotterdam are also in the nomination.

Defence – the basis for success

On paper, few teams have such a strong defence as the Oranjes. Liverpool stopper Virgil Van Dijk will clearly be the main face, but Mathijs De Ligt of Bayern Munich and Nathan Aké of Manchester City are also consistently performing at the top level.

The experienced Daley Blind and Stefan de Vrij are still in the squad. Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven and Feyenoord’s Lutsharel Geertruida want to take the chance to fight for the final nomination, but maybe also for the starting line-up.

The Netherlands will have a big force on the right side, with Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong, a discovery of this season, battling with Denzel Dumfries for the wingback position. On the other side, Ian Maatsen, a finalist in this year’s Champions League, or the aforementioned Blind can jump in. On paper, the Dutch defensive line looks very good. Koeman can be expected to go for a three-stopper and two wingbacks formation.

The heart of the team Frenkie De Jong

If that’s the case, then he has a few options on how to assemble the rest of the team. However, the presence of Frenkie De Jong will be a certainty, and the play of the whole team should be based on him. The 27-year-old director will be tasked with confirming that he has matured into a leader. Alongside him in the midfield should be the hard-working Atalanta Bergamo winger Marten de Roon.

However, there will be other players who will also want a chance at the pre-tournament camp – Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch, AC Milan’s Tijjani Reijnders, PSV Eindhoven’s Jerdy Schouten and Joey Veerman and Feyenoord’s Quinten Timber. However, it is expected that at least one of these players will not attend the championship.

Should Koeman decide to play two offensive midfielders and one spike striker, he has two players with an excellent club season under their belt. Teun Koopmeiners at Atalanta Bergamo was one of the driving forces of the team, contributing heavily to the 2nd place finish in the Italian Cup. He also helped his team to the Europa League final.

Xavi Simons, on the other hand, shone at Leipzig, so this option could be very interesting. Especially when you have another proven name for the position. Both Georginio Wijnaldum and Saudi Arabia’s Al Ettifaq are showing that he certainly hasn’t forgotten how to play football and could contribute valuable experience to the Oranjes.

🦁 One month before our first game, here’s our 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐝 for @EURO2024! 🇳🇱#NothingLikeOranje #CreateHistory pic.84HIAQVV2

– OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) May 16, 2024

Who will take care of the goals?

Probably the biggest weakness will be the striker position. It is all the more incomprehensible to overlook the 22-year-old Zirkzee, who netted 11 goals in Bologna and dragged his team to a surprise Champions League appearance next year.

Of the proven names, you may come across Atlético Madrid’s Memphis Depay and Liverpool’s Cody Gakpa when reading the preliminary roster, but both players have not had the most successful seasons. However, they have shown in the past that they are capable of scoring goals for the national team in a major tournament.

An interesting name is Donyell Malen from Dortmund, who offers the coach the opportunity to practice a 3-4-3 formation with wing players. Malen and Frimpong could be a solid threat when playing on the counter-attack.

Among other players, Hoffenheim’s lanky forward Wout Weghorst is available. He was able to make a name for himself at the last World Cup, where he also earned a Manchester United loan. However, the thirty-one-year-old striker’s career has taken a rather downward trend since then. One of the pair of Ajax Amsterdam players, Steven Bergwijn and Brian Brobbey, are also very likely to drop out of the squad.

The final nomination will be announced by coach Koeman on 29 May. His team will start their tournament journey on 16 June against Poland, and then play France and Austria in the group stage. Before that, they will play Canada and Iceland in preliminary matches.

Full wider nominations

Goalkeepers: Alisson (Liverpool), Bento (Athletico-PR), Ederson (Manchester City).

Defenders: Danilo (Juventus), Yan Couto (Girona), Guilherme Arana (Atlético-MG), Wendell (Porto), Beraldo (PSG), Éder Militão (Real Madrid), Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal), Marquinhos (PSG).

Midfielders: Andreas Pereira (Fulham), Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle), Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa), João Gomes (Wolverhampton), Lucas Paquetá (West Ham).

Forwards: Endrick (Palmeiras), Evanilson (Porto), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal), Raphinha (Barcelona), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Savinho (Girona), Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid).

Source: Netherlands national football team