Frank de Boer has discussed his first Netherlands squad and expects big things from Teun Koopmeiners and Donyell Malen.

On Friday, De Boer selected 25 players for the upcoming friendly with Mexico and the Nations League games against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Italy.

On the Ons Oranje website, De Boer explained why he chose 25 players instead of 23, Normally we do twenty field players and three goalkeepers, now we have two field players because we play three games instead of two. We also have Jong Oranje, who are also in the bubble in Zeist. We could still draw on that.”

De Boer stuck with most of the players that were picked by Ronald Koeman, and that was a deliberate choice, “I have only just joined and things went very well under Ronald Koeman and Dwight Lodeweges. Who would I be to throw the bat in the chicken coop? I now work with the best players in the Netherlands, which is a fantastic challenge. I look forward to seeing the boys.”

De Boer handed a first call-up to Teun Koopmeiners of AZ, and was able to call on Donyell Malen, who is back from injury. De Boer expects big things from the duo, “First of all they are here because of their quality. In addition, I think that these two guys can be very important for the Dutch national team in the future. You want to give them the feeling of what is involved in the Dutch national team. I’d like to see how they behave. Maybe they are going to make minutes too. The same applies to someone like Wijndal.”




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