Ronald Koeman believes Frenkie de Jong will be fit to start the European Championships for the Netherlands.

The midfielder has been out injured and missed the end of the season for Barcelona, but Koeman named him in his final squad for the Euros.

Speaking at his press conference, Koeman said he expects De Jong to be ready for the start of the tournament, ‘It’s going according to plan.”

Koeman added that he expects De Jong to join the group on Saturday and he could play in the second warm up friendly against Iceland. Koeman confirmed that due to club commitments Teun Koopmeiners and Tijjani Reijnders will also miss the first friendly against Canada.

On Memphis Depay’s fitness, Koeman said, “I think he’s very fit. He trained for two days. In the final phase, he didn’t get enough minutes. With the last two practice matches, he must be ready for the first game. He also needs to find a club, maybe that will help at the European Championships. We also have a lot of training ahead.”

Not much was said on the decision to call up Georginio Wijnaldum, but Koeman did discuss his reason for calling on the midfielder, “Wijnaldum is super fit and is a box-to-box-midfielder that we don’t have much of.”

Koeman said Joshua Zirkzee had a chance of being called up if he was fit, while he also named Jeremie Frimpong as an option to play on the right wing.




admin (14798 Posts)

Follow @Footballoranje_ on Twitter