Reported Liverpool target Donyell Malen could be a ‘sensation’ at Euro 2020, Holland legend Wesley Sneijder told Voetbal International.
While captain and talisman Memphis Depay is nailed on to start for the Netherlands during their group stage opener against Ukraine on Sunday, manager Frank de Boer has a number of decisions to make across the rest of his frontline.
Does de Boer go for the mobile, speedy Malen? Or the giant Wout Weghorst?
If the choice was Sneijder’s, it would be the latter, rather than the former, striking up a partnership with Depay at the European Championships.
Is Donyell Malen heading to Liverpool after Euro 2020?
“I think he’s a really great striker,” former Inter Milan and Real Madrid star Sneijder explained.
“And I really think that if he gets the chance to play, he could become a sensation for this European Championship. I’m really charmed by that boy.
“You see that every time (Memphis and Malen) play together, they look for each other. They also get on well with each other. There’s a lot of movement with those two in the front.
“And I would rather opt for movement, with two players who can dive into the spaces, than a static striker.”
Malen is one of a number of former Arsenal youngsters who will be looking to show the Gunners what they are missing this summer, alongside Germany winger Serge Gnabry and Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
The Gunners sold a teenage Malen for just £200,000 in 2017 and, four years on, the nine-capped international is ready to graduate from the Eredivisie finishing school, potentially following in the footsteps of another ex-PSV talisman with a big-money move to England’s north west.
Liverpool, however, will be hoping Malen is more of a success at Anfield than Memphis Depay was down the road at Manchester United.
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