AZ Alkmaar captain Teun Koopmeiners says clubs from the Premier League want to sign him amid claims that Everton and West Ham United are interested, speaking to ND.
You won’t find many defensive midfielders with a better goalscoring record than this Dutch U21 international.
During a sensational 2019/20 campaign, Koopmeiners found the net 16 times in all competitions despite splitting his time between playing in his favoured ‘number six’ role and adapting to life as a ball-playing centre-half.
And, if the Eredivisie season had not been curtailed in April, the influential skipper might have led a thrilling AZ Alkmaar side to their first league title since Louis van Gaal’s heyday.
He had no idea at the time that March’s 4-0 thrashing of ADO Den Haag could be the last time he would ever pull on that red and white kit.
Though it is not absolutely certain that Koopmeiners would be packing his bags this summer, despite being offered the opportunity to bring his superb passing range and inch-perfect penalties to the Premier League.
“That’s right,” Koopmeiners said when asked whether reports linking him with a move to England were true, as translated by Football Oranje.
“But there is still nothing on the table at AZ, so to speak. It remains to be seen how that will turn out.
“You never know if you’re going to get that close (to winning the Eredivisie title) again. I think this may have made the players even more eager.
“We now know what we are capable of, we know what we can do and what we can achieve.”
As long as AZ keep hold of their star performers, such as goal-machine Myron Boadu and roving playmaker Calvin Stengs, perhaps Koopmeiners too will stick around with unfinished business on his mind.
Everton were linked with a £12 million swoop via The Sun, while Calciomercato suggested that West Ham were interested too.
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