Juventus are ready to sign Teun Koopmeiners, and Wayne Girard assures the Old Lady’s fans that this impact signing is worth the wait due to his duality.
The Netherlands just lacked that extra oomph to get into extra time against England in the Euro 2024 semi-final. Ollie Watkins made sure of it at the death, and Dutch manager Ronald Koeman was left ruing the absence of not just Marten de Roon, but the beating heart of the Oranje midfield, Teun Koopmeiners. Over the last five years, he’s been undoubtedly the country’s most valuable player, whether the awards have followed him or not.
The media’s spotlight hasn’t fallen upon Koopmeiners the same way it has for other attacking midfielders like Martin Ødegaard, Bruno Fernandes, or even his younger countryman Xavi Simons. Perhaps that’s due to his playing style or the club that he plays for, but most major teams have seemingly looked the other way as well. While Liverpool were said to be interested over the course of the year, the one concrete suitor has been Juventus, who are said to have been interested in him since 2023 and contacted the player as early as March 2024. Perhaps the long term interest from the Turin giants staved off the competition.
Koopmeiners is consistent in attack and defence
But for those of us who know and follow Italian football as a faith, understand that he is the best centre-midfielder on the peninsula. As Atalanta have become a major force, and reigning Europa League champions, it has coincided with the Dutchman’s presence at the club since 2021. Over these last three years he’s proven himself as a highly talented and powerful creative outlet with 29 goals and 15 assist over 129 matches. 12 of those goals came this past season as he almost doubled his expected goals number, with a high shot accuracy of 37% and goals coming from all central areas from 30 to the six-yard box.
Koopmeiners is a wonderful addition to Thiago Motta’s Juventus. Ranking in the 82 percentile for touches made by an attacking midfielder, that statistic shows his willingness to be at the centre of the play, while a long ball accuracy of over 50% points out his quality in spreading the ball throughout the pitch – a particularly deadly asset for Motta-ball, which demands big switches of play in the attacking third.
But what makes him such a significant, game changing signing is his duality. We can go on and on about the brains behind the assists and powerful left footed shots, yet it’s in the defensive phase where Koopmeiners rises above the rest. His defensive actions put him in the top 90% for centre-attacking midfielders in comparable leagues, and averages almost four and a half ball recoveries per match. In all, the Dutch dynamo made 150 recoveries and won the ball back 23 times in the opposing half. The season before, he averaged 7.8 recoveries every 90 minutes for Gasperini, of which almost 50% were in the attacking half.
The transfer negotiations have been longer than Cristiano Giuntoli would have wanted, as the league kicks off in less than a week’s time. But nothing great ever comes easily or quickly, and when Koopmeiners is donning those black and white stripes, fans of the Old Lady will have been given a major impact signing who will kick Motta’s module into a much higher gear.