Netherlands boss Frank de Boer insisted that he never thought about dropping Steven Bergwijn despite the winger’s ongoing struggles at Tottenham Hotspur, while speaking to the Leeuwarder Courant.
Less than two years after Noni Madueke turned down a contract at Spurs in favour of a move to PSV Eindhoven, Bergwijn was packing his bags and heading in the other direction.
And it is fair to say one skillful winger is having a better time than the other this season.
While Madueke goes from strength to strength in the Eredivisie, forcing his way into the England U21 squad after producing nine goals and eight assists for Roger Schmidt’s side, the same cannot be said about his former PSV teammate.
Bergwijn has now gone 38 games without finding the net in a Tottenham shirt.
And, with Erik Lamela, Gareth Bale and the exceptional Lucas Moura moving ahead of him in the pecking order, the £27 million speedster has played just 24 minutes of Premier League football in the last seven matchdays.
But, according to De Boer, there was never a chance that Bergwijn and the similarly out-of-favour Donny Van de Beek would be left at home ahead of this week’s World Cup qualifiers.
“(Van de Beek) has made a fantastic transfer to (Manchester) United and is still at the beginning of his career. You do not give up immediately,” said the man who replaced Ronald Koeman as the Netherlands manager.
“Steven Bergwijn does not play much at Spurs either. But I have not considered not calling them.”
With Memphis Depay, Donyell Malen, Ryan Babel, Calvin Stengs and Steven Berghuis also included in De Boer’s squad, Bergwijn needs to find form and fast if he wants to feature from the start at the Euros.
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