Talents Calendar
The Feyenoord Rotterdam academy has produced more than a handful of professionals who are currently taking part in the World Cup in Qatar with the Netherlands. A look at the current squad with nine homegrown talents, including Orkun Kökcü (21), the captain and the most valuable Feyenoord player with a market value of 27 million euros, shows that the club from the port city always gives their own talents a chance. The team’s average age of 23.3 is undercut by only four clubs in the Eredivisie. One who could ensure that the value is further screwed down is the 17-year-old midfield talent Mike Kleijn.
The youngster, who is used in the U21s, knocks on the door to the pros. Kleijn is still awaiting his first-team competitive debut, but came on as a substitute half an hour before the final whistle in the friendly against league rivals PEC Zwolle in January this year and was in coach Arne’s side in the last 16 second leg against Partizan in the Conference League last season Slot the first and so far only time on the bank. The fact that Feyenoord trusts Kleijn to have a future in the club has been proven by the professional contract for 2020 for the then only 15-year-old. In the course of this, Kleijn told the “Algemeen Dagblad”: “Feyenoord shows that they have confidence in me, they believe in me.” It was “not difficult” for him to ignore the interests of other clubs. “First make the breakthrough in the Netherlands and prove yourself in the first team and only then look further, that’s how I see it,” he emphasized.
His advisor Daan Kramp from agency Forza Sports Group said at the time that Feyenoord was “the right club” for the talent. “There was interest from the Netherlands and abroad, but it was never a serious option for Mike,” he said. Among other things, Ajax Amsterdam is said to have been looking for a commitment. PSV Eindhoven also tried in vain for the left foot, as Kleijn revealed to “BN DeStem” in November last year. He left his home town of Breda for Feyenoord’s offspring at the age of six. How did the change come about? He could only remember “that my parents received an e-mail from Feyenoord”.
At the top Dutch club he was told “that it would be better for my development to play in higher youth teams, I would build up more resistance that way.” A move that has paid off so far, after all, Kleijn is in Started this season despite being one of the youngest players in the country’s Under-21 league at just 17 years old. He is also a current U17 national player and took part in the U17 European Championship in Israel last summer, where the Netherlands lost the final against France (1-2). Although Kleijn started just one of his six appearances at the finals, he did provide two assists and also wore the captain’s armband in his only starting XI appearance.
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Old companions of Kleijn go into raptures when they talk about him. Stanley Brard, Feyenoord’s youth boss between 2019 and 2021, said in 2020 when Kleijn signed his professional contract: “Of course he’s still young, but you hardly notice that on the pitch. He really is a modern playmaker: safe on the ball, agile and resourceful. In addition, Mike is very good at reading the game. A boy full of talents that we will continue to develop in the years to come.” Hedwiges Maduro, who was an assistant with Dutch youth teams for a number of years, is certain: “Believe me, he will come. Maybe next year, just watch,” he said of Kleijn on ESPN’s Voetbalpraat in February. In his view, Feyenoord has “some good talent coming our way”. Kleijn seems to be one that is about to break through.
Every day from 1st to 24th December Transfermarkt presents a talent from the 2005 or 2006 vintage from a different country. Sponsors, data scouts and users are used as experts and report interesting facts about 24 young players in our talent calendar, which you should keep a close eye on in the future. For example with the TM watch list.
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