Wolves and Tottenham are keen on Eredivisie captain Orkun Kokcu but Feyenoord icon Jan Boskamp hopes to see the Dutch-born Turkey international join Premier League leaders Arsenal instead.
Boskamp has a point.
Kokcu, he feels, would benefit from joining a side already boasting an extensive array of high-quality, highly-technical talent.
The 22-year-old, a ball-carrying, defence-splitting, press-resistant playmaker, would slot in like Samuel L Jackson into a Quentin Tarantino script at the heart of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal midfield; tailor-made for a role alongside Martin Odegaard and Thomas Partey.
Boskamp, meanwhile, believes Kokcu would be an ideal successor for the soon-to-be 31-year-old Granit Xhaka, even if suggestions that the long-serving Arsenal enforcer is ‘on his last legs’ seem more than a little harsh when you consider that this is by far and away Xhaka’s finest individual season in Gunners red.
Could Feyenoord’s Orkun Kokcu replace Granit Xhaka at Arsenal?
“I would send him to Arsenal,” the three-time Eredivisie champion tells the Coffee with Boskamp Podcast.
“Why? Because there is a lot of footballing ability in that team and there are many young boys around. And that Swiss, I think he is on his last legs.”
Kokcu, who held talks with Arsenal all the way back in 2020, now finds himself on the radar of their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. De Telegraaf report that Kokcu, arguably the finest player currently in the Dutch top-flight is also on the radar of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
But Arsenal, Boskamp points out, is a more settled, established side with a clear, consistent style of play. Should Kokcu join Tottenham instead, he’d be heading to a team in transition. Antonio Conte’s replacement (whoever that may be) will become their fourth different head coach since Mauricio Pochettino’s departure.
Then again, the prospect of Tottenham hiring one Arne Slot – Kokcu’s coach at Feyenoord – would certainly help ease that transition into a new league.
“(Kokcu) has become an extension of the coach,” Boskamp adds. “You can see on the field that he has grown compared to last year.
“He takes the corners and the free kicks. And when he presses and others don’t join in, you see him shouting; ‘Hey, join us’.
“He didn’t do that a year and a half ago. Now, he is the big man in midfield.”
Kokcu has 12 goals and four assists this season.
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