It has not been Thijmen Blokzijl’s season so far. Yet the 18-year-old talent from FC Groningen can remember the concrete interest from PSV.
2023 was a special year for Thijmen Blokzijl. While FC Groningen was going through the darkest period of the club’s history, he became the rising star. On January 8, Blokzijl entered the books against Excelsior as the youngest ever starting debutant for the northerners. The central defender, who grew up at Velocitas and Be Quick 1887, made fifteen appearances in the Premier League during the Groningen disaster year when he was seventeen. He signed a new contract until 2026 and attracted the attention of several top clubs.
PSV bid
This season everything changed. Under the new coach Dick Lukkien, Blokzijl – partly due to an ankle injury sustained with the Dutch under-19 team – only made his place. However, this did not prevent PSV from reporting to FC Groningen with an offer for the blonde Groningen. The people of Eindhoven are willing to pay an amount of around 500,000 euros for Blokzijl, but general director Wouter Gudde has rejected the offer.
“The offer is not interesting for us at all,” Gudde responds. “We don’t want to lose him at all. Thijmen is an excellent player. He has been playing a little less this season, but you have to weigh that against the fact that he is only eighteen years old and has made enormous strides in the past year. I think he can still learn a lot from us. In addition, we must keep an eye on the broader picture. We must ensure that we achieve our objectives. We need everyone for this. The past two matches have proven this, because Blokzijl has played ninety minutes twice.”
Doesn’t look good
The central defender was allowed to appear in Lukkien’s starting eleven, because Leandro Bacuna was out and direct competitor Radinio Balker left for Huddersfield Town two weeks ago. Blokzijl did not perform well in the only goal conceded by FC Groningen against Jong AZ on Friday (4-1 victory). “But he can learn from that,” Gudde believes. “We must not forget that last season things went very quickly with Thijmen in a very difficult situation, while then – as strange as it sounds – he played in a smaller team than now, even though we played at a higher level at the time. ”
It is not clear whether PSV will return for Blokzijl before next Thursday’s transfer deadline. “We are not in a situation where we can simply ignore every offer, but in this case we will only listen if extremely high amounts are put on the table,” says Gudde. “We thought the current offer was in any case not nearly enough. We have a lot of confidence in Thijmen’s future. And as I said: promotion is our top priority.”
Scots want to hire Van Veen
The club has less confidence in players such as Daleho Irandust, Paulos Abraham, Nordin Musampa, Liam van Gelderen and Kevin van Veen, who are also under contract with FC Groningen. Gudde hopes to be able to accommodate these players elsewhere in the coming period. The deadline of February 1 is not sacred, because in Scandinavia and the United States the transfer markets remain open longer. There is interest in Van Veen from Scotland, but especially in a rental construction.
“Furthermore, all boys have been informed and specific offers have been made, but no proposal has yet been put on the table that all parties are waiting for,” Gudde explains. “Sometimes we agreed, but the player in question could not reach an agreement and sometimes it was the other way around. Still, I expect everyone to make their own choices in the near future.”
Only a goalkeeper
Financially, the pressure is somewhat off at FC Groningen after the sale of Radinio Balker (1.35 million) and the millions to be collected through the resale of former players Cyril Ngonge and Azor Matusiwa. “That helps us reduce the deficit a bit,” says Gudde, who, after the arrival of Rui Mendes, is only looking for a second goalkeeper for the vacancy of Michael Verrips, who has been brought back by Fortuna Sittard.
“We now have a lot of boys on the field who, when things get exciting, want to run just a little bit faster for the emblem and the shirt. We’re not going to just mess that up by bringing in more new players. We must be careful with the dynamics that have arisen and are growing.”