To say PSV Eindhoven were hit hard by Cody Gakpo’s £37 million mid-season sale to Liverpool would be an understatement. In their first two games without their departed talisman, Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side failed to win; a dismal 0-0 draw at home to Sparta Rotterdam a brutal and worrying reminder of just how reliant they were upon the explosive Dutch international.
But, having finally come to terms with Gakpo’s sudden exit, the nature of Saturday’s 6-0 thrashing of Groningen felt was as important as it was impressive. A reminder of that fact that, even without Gakpo, a team just four points off the top of the Eredivisie table still have more talent in their ranks than most clubs in the division could scarcely even dream of.
Patrick van Aanholt rolling back the years at PSV Eindhoven
In Xavi Simons, formerly of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, PSV boast perhaps the most exciting young talent in the whole of Dutch football. Luuk de Jong has been here and done it before; a Europa League winner with Sevilla. Wolves paid £35 million for the on-loan Fabio Silva. And, in Thorgan Hazard, PSV replaced Gakpo on the left-hand side with a former Dortmund attacker who has nearly 50 caps for Belgium on his CV.
But while Hazard may have been the most high-profile of PSV’s January additions, he is not necessarily the best. That honour, some would argue, goes to a 32-year-old returning to the Netherlands after almost a decade away.
“(The player who) makes the difference at PSV is Patrick van Aanholt,” legendary attacker Arnold Bruggink tells ESPN. “He is the best player at PSV. It is not normal how easily he has taken the whole team by the hand.”
Van Aanholt, a loan signing from Galatasaray on deadline day, has only played 200 PSV minutes thus far. That Van Nistelrooy’s previously confidence-sapped team look revitalised with Van Aanholt on the pitch, however, is no coincidence.
‘Wonderful’
“We are a little too excited about Hazard. I was more impressed by Van Aanholt. How fit he is and what he shows,” explains Marciano Vink, an Eredivisie champion in 1996; highlighting former Sunderland and Crystal Palace star’s ‘wonderful’ crossing ability from the left-hand side.
“He also has the substance to go into the midfield,” Vink adds, insisting that Van Aanholt represents an immediate upgrade on the recently-departed Philipp Max.
“He is not too bad at defending. And that has been (not the case) with Max.”
Van Aanholt, who once cost Sunderland a bargain £1.5 million and spent four seasons at Crystal Palace between 2017 and 2021, is yet to win a major trophy in his near 15-year career. Maintain his current form at PSV, however, and that long wait for silverware might just come to an end in May.
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