FC Twente midfielder Ramiz Zerrouki insists he plans to stay with the Eredivisie outfit despite being linked with a move to Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur, speaking to Tubantia.
A fortnight ago, reports emerged suggesting the Amsterdam-born 23-year-old would reject the chance to swap the relatively small pond that’s Dutch football for the open ocean of the Premier League.
Zerrouki, Fennec Football said, wanted to stay at Twente and continue his development, having only really established himself as a first-team regular in 2020/21.
In truth, a move to a club the size of Tottenham always felt like a classic case of ‘too much, too soon’.
While Zerrouki has impressed during the past eight months or so, the twice-capped Algeria international is far from the finished article and nowhere near as established as Donny van de Beek was when the Ajax star sealed that ill-fated move to Manchester United last summer.
Zerrouki’s maturity, then, stands him in good stead as he looks to develop his talents in the more sedate pace of the Eredivisie.
Can Tottenham tempt Zerrouki?
“Of course, you never know how things will turn out, but I’m not thinking about other options at all,” Zerrouki said when pressed on his plans.
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“I see enough points for improvement here and FC Twente is the ideal environment for me to develop further.
“Last season was nice, but that doesn’t count any more. I have to continue now.”
A tough-tackling, deep-lying midfielder in the Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg mould, Zerrouki would have brought some added depth and energy to the Tottenham engine room. New manager Nuno Espirito Santo usually prefers two defensively minded options in the centre of the park.
Should Zerrouki build on his breakthrough season at Twente, he may feel 12 months from now that the time has come to move on.
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