In an exclusive interview with Football-Oranje, Netherlands U21s manager Erwin van de Looi discussed the future of the Dutch national team.
- by Michael Statham
- Follow Michael on Twitter @EredivisieMike
You can watch our full interview with van de Looi (plus captain Dani de Wit) by clicking here.
Working with the Netherlands’ finest young players, van de Looi is aware of what the future may hold for the senior Dutch side. He agreed that there is lots of potential: “I’m happy with a lot of potential players. For example, we have selected now Devyne Rensch [for the U21s]. Yesterday I was talking to my captain, Dani de Wit, he said, ‘Coach, he’s five years younger than I am.’ I think that’s good – amazing even.”
We then asked van de Looi whether the dark times are now over for the Oranje because of the quality of younger players, to which he replied, “When players are selected for the national team, they have to play a bigger role maybe. At this moment, only Matthijs De Ligt and Donyell Malen are the guys who are really playing a big role. I hope Gravenberch will be the next one.”
“But there are also a lot of players whose role can hopefully be bigger in the future – for Koopmeiners, for Gakpo – they will make more minutes, be more important, be more decisive, then we can combine that with more experienced players. There are already like Wijnaldum, Frenkie de Jong, and Depay; I think we can have a great squad in the upcoming years, yes.”
You can watch the full interview with van de Looi (plus captain Dani de Wit) by clicking here, or by pressing play below:
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Writer/interviewer/YouTuber for Football-Oranje. Massive Dutch football fan from the UK. Follow me @EredivisieMike & subscribe to Football-Oranje on YouTube.
