One of the big stories last week was that of Leeds United’s Pascal Struijk applying for a Belgian passport.
The centre-back has been a regular feature under Marcelo Bielsa of late, and recently received a phone call from Roberto Martínez, who enquired as to whether the 21-year-old was interested in representing Belgium.
Born in Deurne near Antwerp, Struijk is eligible to play for both Belgium and the Netherlands, and has done so with the latter only at U17 level.
That means he can still play for the first-team for either, but Khalid Boulahrouz, who represented the Dutch 35 times and played for the likes of Chelsea, doesn’t think he’s ready to play under Frank De Boer just yet.
Speaking on Ziggo Sport, he said, relayed by Voetbalzone: “It comes too soon. I do think that he’s a player who can develop more gradually as he plays more matches, but for now? No”.
With the likes of Matthijs De Ligt and Virgil Van Dijk (when fit) ahead of him, it’s easy to see why it would be tough for the Leeds man to break through, while the gaps left by the ageing Thomas Vermaelen and Jan Vertonghen in the Belgium national team are easier to exploit.
Either way, Youri Mulder believes Struijk is in good hands to develop into a great player.
He said: “I think he is with a great manager. He is physically much stronger there, plays a lot. The entire Leeds team is developing very strongly”.
