Erwin van de Looi was not surprised when Jeremie Frimpong turned down the chance to represent the Netherlands at the U21 European Championships.

Frimpong has had an excellent season in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen but was not selected by Ronald Koeman for the upcoming Nations League semi-finals.

The full-back would have been part of the U21 squad for the European Championships but he turned down the invitation.

Jong Oranje boss Erwin van de Looi was asked by ESPN if he was surprised, “Not quite for me. You can taste a bit of how he is doing, and what his thoughts are. Also during previous international periods.

“You can taste between the lines that he thinks he belongs to the Dutch national team. But he would certainly not look out of place at the European Championship with the Juniors in Georgia.”

Ronald Koeman has previously stated that he does not find Frimpong strong enough defensively yet and it seems that Van de Looi agrees, “When you select players you try to empower them so they can show their strengths. I’ve seen Jeremie a lot and what he’s good at is attacking. He’s making a name for himself in the Bundesliga because he scores goals and assists. That’s all in the attacking part. But what he’s vulnerable in is defending.”




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