National coach Ronald Koeman says he is ‘for the time being’ counting on Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay to be able to play for the Dutch national team at the European Championships in Germany. The Barcelona midfielder and the Atlético Madrid attacker are currently injured and it is still unclear when the duo will recover. “It is too premature to draw a line under their name now,” Koeman emphasizes, however. “Their importance to this team is the reason not to write them off too early.”
De Jong suffered a sprained ankle from last weekend’s top match against Real Madrid and is reportedly sidelined for about five weeks. The European Championship in Germany starts for the Dutch team on June 16 with a group match against Poland and there will be practice against Canada and Iceland at the beginning of June. Depay is struggling with a muscle injury and seems to have recovered sooner than De Jong, but the attacker will therefore lack match rhythm towards a major tournament, just like in the 2021 European Championship and the 2022 World Cup.
Will Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay reach the European Championship?
“Memphis already experienced that at the last World Cup,” Koeman agreed in conversation Algemeen Dagblad. Depay ultimately played all matches in Qatar and therefore does not seem to have to worry about his place. This also seems to apply to De Jong, even though he may not be fit again until June. “Frenkie is a player who has long proven his importance; He will be there as soon as he is fit, and we will know what we can do with him.”
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“Such a recovery time is always difficult to estimate. It is far too early to draw any conclusions from this. Let’s first wait three weeks to see how Frenkie recovers. After that there is still plenty of time to make decisions,” Koeman emphasizes.
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Koeman is also confident that UEFA will soon accept that each participating country can register 26 instead of 23 football players for the tournament. “That would provide scope to also take a doubtful case to Germany.”
