Although FC Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong suffered a knock to his shin against Real Sociedad, he is fit enough to report to Oranje’s Zeist training camp. He will be available for the Nations League matches against both Hungary on Saturday and Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday.
Koeman spoke of his midfielder: “I got in touch with Frenkie pretty quickly, so I knew it wasn’t his ankle. He’ll just report tomorrow (Tuesday) and I assume he’ll be able to play on Saturday.”
Despite his long absence, Koeman still has no doubts about the Barcelona midfielder. “If he’s fit and well, he’s a certainty.” Agreements have been made about the number of minutes for De Jong. “I’ve spoken to Frenkie about it, just like Barcelona, but the content of that remains between us.”
With the return of De Jong, Koeman has plenty of choice in midfield. Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool), Teun Koopmeiners (Juventus), Tijjani Reijnders (AC Milan), Mats Wieffer (Brighton) and Quinten Timber (Feyenoord) are all also part of Koeman’s final selection, although the latter was out against Almere City last Sunday.
“There are 25 players on the list for a reason. It is possible that players like De Jong, Timber and also Noa Lang will get some extra rest during training.”
Memphis Depay is not yet in the selection. “I don’t think he is fit and good enough yet, and it’s not the right time either.” Koeman highlighted next March’s Nations League quarter-finals as a more suitable moment. “If he continues like this, he will be in the picture for the next cycle.”
Kenneth Taylor was another that was dropped from the final selection. Koeman spoke to the Ajax midfielder twice. “He’s been doing well in recent weeks. He’s been involved in goals, like against Twente. I also think he’s more of an attacking midfielder than a ‘six’, but you have to come from a good background to win the competition from Koopmeiners and Reijnders. But the fact that I called him shows confidence for the future.”
