Did Arsenal fans get a glimpse of the future of Mikel Arteta’s midfield back in September?
The Gunners may have cruised to a 4-0 win on the night – three up at half-time thanks to Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus – but it was a man who represented the visitors at the Emirates six months ago who has one pundit convinced that he would fit right in in that iconic red-and-white shirt.
Joey Veerman certainly didn’t have the happiest evening of his career during PSV Eindhoven’s crushing defeat in North London. He was on the periphery throughout, given the runaround by Declan Rice and co.
“(The defeat) is not very strange,” Veerman protested at the time “I think this is the second most expensive team in the world.
“As a footballer, you prefer not to say it, but you know this can happen. They signed a midfielder (Rice) for 120 million euros. He is more expensive than our entire squad!”
Maybe so, but this is not a PSV side short of value themselves.
Arsenal tipped to target PSV ace Joey Veerman
Veerman, former Dutch under-21 international Diego Bisewar feels, will comfortably fetch around £35 million in today’s market. But could the one-time Heerenveen skipper, after making the step up to PSV back in 2022, do like Rice and take his game to another level while becoming a driving force behind a team fighting for the biggest of trophies both at home and on the continent?
“(Veerman) can easily join Arsenal,” Bisewar argues, in conversation with ESPN. “You should think of an amount of 40 million (euros) for him, I think.
“That football at Arsenal is tailor-made for him. Playing through balls and thinking between the lines, that’s what he can do best.”
Veerman, still only 25, might lack the box-to-box power of Rice. But, in a team who tends to dominate possession like PSV – and Arsenal for that matter – Veerman’s ability to break the lines and set the rhythm has seen him emerge as perhaps the most important piece of Peter Bosz’s puzzle.
PSV’s 5-1 hammering of AZ Alkmaar means Bosz’s side are now nine points clear in the Eredivisie table with only five games left to play.
“His gaze is always focused forward,” the iconic Rafael van der Vaart told NOS Studio after the PSV Eindhoven playmaker opened his Oranje account at the eighth time of asking during the recent 2-1 defeat to Germany.
“I have always compared Veerman with Andrea Pirlo. These are the matches to prove again that he is the big man with the ball.”
Likened to Andrea Pirlo and Toni Kroos
Van der Vaart’s former Dutch team-mate Pierre van Hooijdonk, meanwhile, sees similarities between Veerman and another of the modern era’s most decorated playmakers.
“I think he’s a bit like the Dutch Toni Kroos,” Van Hooijdonk retorts. “Both Kroos and Veerman can cover the entire field with their right foot and have an extra eye to give the through ball.
“For example, you never see (Barcelona’s Dutch star) Frenkie de Jong play a ‘switch’ pass. (Veerman) has completely different qualities.”
Arsenal face Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.
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