Roma have officially confirmed the signing of Feyenoord right-back Rick Karsdorp on a five-year deal.
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The Serie A club have paid Feyenoord an initial fee of €14 million for the 22-year-old, but the deal could rise to €19 million with bonuses. This makes Karsdorp the most expensive Feyenoord player in history.
After signing his five-year deal, Karsdorp told the official Roma website, “Getting to Rome is a big step for me. I come here with great desire and enthusiasm to play and realise my dreams. I know I still have room for improvement and I hope to show it here. ”
Karsdorp is a product of the Feyenoord academy and was initially an attacking midfielder, but former head coach Fred Rutten converted him into a right-back. Since then he has made just over 100 appearances for the Feyenoord first team while earning two caps for the Netherlands.
He joins up with fellow Dutchman Kevin Strootman and former PSV defender Hector Moreno in Rome. Feyenoord will now look to complete the loan signing of Kevin Diks from Fiorentina to replace Karsdorp.
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Sorry but once again a dutch club undersold. He is worth the 20 million they wanted. They shouldnt have caved. There are more clubs in europe than just roma. Should have held out for more.
Seems like a fair compromise to have €19M as the price tag after possible bonuses, which I would assume are performance-based. Most thought PSV got fair value for Memphis at the time, but the same people will say in hindsight that they massively overpaid for him given what Memphis contributed to Manchester United.
I still think the problem not enough people are talking about, is that our players are leaving the Eredivisie far too early. As one example, RVN didn’t leave until he was 25 and when he left and he made an immediate impact with Manchester United despite injury. If we look at how Robben’s career went leaving a 20, it took him 5 years of struggling at Chelsea and Real Madrid before he was truly a world class player when he went to Bayern at 25.