Tottenham Hotspur hero Rafael Van der Vaart says Steven Bergwijn should stay at the Premier League giants rather than return to the Eredivisie with Ajax, speaking to Ziggo Sport.
The Qatari World Cup is now less than 12 months away.
As a result, players struggling for regular minutes at club level will be getting itchy feet ahead of the January transfer window, weighing up the pros and cons of a mid-season switch that could be the making or the breaking of their World Cup dreams.
Bergwijn certainly has a decision to make.
The £27 million Dutch international has played just 13 minutes of football during Antonio Conte’s first four Premier League games in charge of Tottenham Hotspur.
And Ajax are understood to be offering him an escape route, with Bergwijn handed the chance to re-join a club he once represented as a wide-eyed youngster before making his name at PSV Eindhoven.
Is Steven Bergwijn leaving Tottenham?
“He is a wonderful player. I like to watch him,” Van der Vaart said when asked about a potential return to the Netherlands for his 24-year-old compatriot, via Ajax Showtime.
Bergwijn has fallen behind Lucas Moura and Heung-Min Son in the Tottenham pecking order.
But, with Dusan Tadic, Steven Berghuis and the mercurial Antony tearing defences apart in the red and white of Ajax, there would be no guarantee of a starting berth at Ajax either.
“If you bring in Bergwijn from Tottenham to Ajax, he has to play. The next question is then where he will play,” Van der Vaart adds.
“You have Tadic in his position and, on the right, you have Antony and Berghuis, so they only get Bergwijn because (Sebastien) Haller is going to the African Cup of Nations for a month.
“I don’t think Bergwijn should want that.
“From Ajax’s perspective, I understand but I don’t think it would be wise for Bergwijn. He still plays regularly at Tottenham and if you go to Ajax and then sit on the bench in the Dutch league, that is not good for your career.
“He also occasionally plays at Tottenham, so let him sit there.”
Bergwijn might have been handed an opportunity to stake his claim during Thursday night’s UEFA Conference League group-stage clash with Rennes.
That has now gone up in smoke, however, after a COVID outbreak in the Spurs camp forced the game to be postponed.
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