Jaap Stam believes Orkun Kokcu should remain at Feyenoord despite interest from Sevilla and Arsenal.
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The 19-year-old has been a regular for Feyenoord this season and his performances have not gone unnoticed by several top clubs.
Arsenal and Sevilla are just two of the club’s interested in signing the midfielder, who has rejected an offer of a new contract from Feyenoord.
Jaap Stam, who coached Feyenoord at the start of the season before being sacked, thinks Kokcu would be a star at Arsenal, but also believes he should remain in Rotterdam for now.
He told Goal.com, “He would need to adjust because the step to Arsenal and the Premier League is totally different when you compare it to Holland.
“The pace of the game, the quality, the intensity is a lot higher.
“But he has the ability. He is a player who has the personality to want to improve, he always wants to do better. He’s never happy with himself, he’s disappointed if he doesn’t score, or his passes aren’t good enough.
“When I joined Feyenoord, he hadn’t played a lot because everyone said he was too young. I put him in the first team and let him play most of the games, I trusted him and saw a lot of ability in him. Now he’s proving himself in Holland and is one of the best midfield players in the country.
“He’s certainly got the ability to make that step to the Premier League.
“He has creativity, scoring ability, stamina and running ability. He keeps on going. I saw him as a very promising player.
“The only thing he needs to work a little more on is the defensive part of his game.
“Ideally it would be good for him to stay in Holland, to adjust even more to playing three games a week and to get used to the intensity. But also to become more steady as a player because he is very young.”
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I think if Feyenoord has a good replacement for him, the club should allow him to go to another club. Besides, Arsenal is a one of good club in Europe.