Ajax may have accepted defeat in their January pursuit of Steven Bergwijn but if you thought speculation surrounding the future of the Tottenham Hotspur winger had come to an end, then think again.
“We would have gotten even better with him,” Ajax boss Erik Ten Hag sighed.
A scary thought for defences everywhere, Eredivisie and Europe-wide. Ajax have already scored a staggering 107 goals in just 31 games this season. An average of nearly four per match.
“We would have had another weapon,” Ten Hag adds, his arsenal already overflowing with attacking artillery.
“And the more weapons you have, the more successful you can be. He’d have been perfect for us.”
That stunning cameo performance against Leicester City – in which Bergwijn scored more goals in 80 seconds than he had in his previous 37 Premier League games – was enough to earn the £27 million Dutch international a second chance under Antonio Conte.
Whether he seizes it, with Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura still very much ahead of him in the pecking order, remains to be seen.
The arrival of Dejan Kulusevski on loan from Juventus couldn’t really have come at a worse time for a man who’s played arguably the best football of his Spurs career in the last two months.
Will Steven Bergwijn still leave Tottenham?
If Tottenham are willing to listen to offers at the end of the season – as they were until his King Power heroics – then Bergwijn surely won’t be short of suitors.
Yes, he’s struggled for consistency in North London. But there’ll still be plenty of clubs willing to take a chance on a still-24-year-old attacker. Especially one with speed and skill by the bucketload.
Especially if Spurs will, as reports suggest, consider bids in the region of just £20 million.
Ten Hag has already admitted that Bergwijn is still high on his radar heading into the summer. Though Ajax will face a bit more competition this time around. Calciomercato believe that, while AC Milan have not opened talks with the former PSV talisman just yet, that could soon change.
Milan’s interest shouldn’t really come as a surprise.
And not just because the Serie A leaders have a history when it comes to signing players struggling for opportunities at other top clubs. See Brahim Diaz, Fikayo Tomori, Olivier Giroud, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Theo Hernandez and Diogo Dalot.
According to reports, AC Milan were in advanced talks to sign Bergwijn in the summer of 2019. Bergwijn would join Tottenham a few months later.
“I hope he can sign an Italian club,” Bergwijn’s agent, Fulco Van Kooperen, told CM at the time.
Three years on, Van Kooperen’s wish could finally come true.
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