I cannot say it's a pipe dream, as we have an overload of talented and established defenders. The ones in the CD's spots are in the stratospheric transfer sum area (50-80 million). So either Kik is going to blast his way into the Orange team by eclipsing the competition or he faces a pack of competitors for the spots.
Yup. The Oranje have a lot of young talent on defense. The current top three left backs for the USMNT are a) not a lock starter in in Liga MX, b) a Bundesliga left midfielder who would be out of position, and c) a 35-year-old DaMarcus Beasley. There are some promising US youth prospects, but Pierie would still obviously have an easier time breaking into the US. The US has a long record of obtaining good-not-elite players who initially played for youth teams (and even the senior team, in the case of Jermaine Jones and Kenny Saief) of other countries, so who knows how this will end up.
A Dutch prospect who has lately been receiving hype -- ranked 5th among the best under-20 players in the Bundesliga via Bundesliga.com (Pulisic is #1) -- is Justin Hoogma, who plays for Hoffenheim and Oranje U20. Like Pierie, he is primarily a left-footed CB. Hoogma, at barely 19, featured for Hoffenheim's first team in the 2017 Telekom Cup. This is just to further illustrate how much high-level young depth the Oranje have on defense, and how the US may have a shot to eventually court Pierie in part because of that.
Plus the just 17 year old captain of Fortuna Sittard, Perr Schuurs, who is in talks with PSV, but according to Voetbal International and German media is being a target of a host of German clubs like Bayern, BVB, Schalke 04, Borussia Mönchengladbach and RB Leipzig and Liverpool. The competition for a place in the Orange back four looks going to be brutal and Kik might be the lucky one with an extra NT option.
@bungadiri Kik should be in the main forum, as he made his Eredivisie debut near the end of last season. Also, a title change to "Yo Pierie, you wanna come out Heere? Kik Pierie at Heerenveen"
http://www.onsoranje.nl/nieuws/jeug...ctie-onder-19-voor-vierlandentoernooi-finland Makes the Dutch U19 roster
He sat on the bench for Heerenveen's first two Eredivisie matches, before dropping down to start for their U21s yesterday.
Yo, you all missed his first starting in the team against ADO today, which means he was defending against Johnsen. Kik won 1-2. Went the full match.
Match report in Dutch with some remarks on Kik. http://www.ad.nl/nederlands-voetbal/thorsby-drukt-ado-met-dubbelslag-verder-in-de-zorgen~a7433f8c/
I'm so excited about Kik, bought a kit wish name a number laster year a few months before he made his official debut but everything I've seen so far confirms to me that he absolutely is the real deal. He is solid defensively and plays with so much confidence and composure. Had a part in both goals today, fantastic left foot. https://streamable.com/die7c https://streamable.com/ccmml
Watched the highlights and Kik was astonishing. He was solid defensively, passing by him was excellent (just an illustration of the deficiency in USA development that a kid in our top league is able and confident to do so!) and on top of that he was penetrating the box like a true striker. He just turned seventeen and with that 17 year old kid at Fortuna Sittard ( being chased by PSV and Ajax, Liverpool, Bayern etc.) in the CD and captain a remarkable sight with also 18 year old de Ligt in the Ajax defense. If Kik goes on this way he will be snapped up by one of the big 3 in Januari. Ajax has a boat load of money lying around, so they probably will be the ones if it comes to it.
In his first Eredivisie match starting line up making a high rating! ADO Den Haag – SC Heerenveen 1-2 ADO Den Haag: Zwinkels 6; Ebuehi 5, Beugelsdijk 5,5, Bakker 5, Meijers 5; Immers 5,5, El Khayati 6,5 (76. Meissner -), Gorter 5 (83. Hooi -); Becker 4,5, Johnsen 5, Lorenzen 4 (64. Duplan). SC Heerenveen: Van der Steen 6,5; Dumfries 7,5, Høegh 6,5, Pierie 7,5, Woudenberg 6; Thorsby 7,5 (84. Van Amersfoort -), Schaars 6,5, Kobayashi 6,5, Ødegaard 7; Ghoochannejhad 6 (79. Veerman -), Zeneli 6,5 (89. Vlap -). Arbiter: Kamphuis 6,5 Man of the Match: Met vier doelpunten in zijn eerste drie wedstrijden is het seizoen van Morten Thorsby uiterst productief begonnen. De Noor bereidde tegen ADO Den Haag daarnaast ook nog eens drie kansen voor. Van de zes goals die Heerenveen voorlopig maakte, kwamen er liefst drie voort uit een combinatie tussen de geoliede machine Dumfries-Thorsby. Daarmee is PSV over twee weken vast gewaarschuwd.
Extremely good passing range for a CB and at 17. I don't think the Dutch are going to let go of him easily.
Yup, did you notice that long range pass to the guy on the right outside waiting It points to the different approach we have compared with other countries. Imagine Miazga would have had the same regime while developing, instead of playing catch up last season at Vitesse in that area years later.
Made a couple of Teams of the Week: 🏅 Zeven AZ'ers in een Team van de Week.#vitaz #Eredivisie pic.twitter.com/8j7MY7tnH4— AZ (@AZAlkmaar) August 28, 2017