New Tottenham star Steven Bergwijn has been warned he is just at ‘the beginning’ and the pressure is only likely to grow on him at the club.
The Dutch forward joined Tottenham in a £27m deal from PSV Eindhoven in January as José Mourinho sought out offensive additions in light of Harry Kane’s injury.
He’s made an immediate impact at the club, with a superbly taken goal helping his new side to victory over Manchester City on his debut.
That goal has only raised expectations around the 22-year-old, who has now been warned by Wim Kieft, a retired Dutch international, that the pressure will be on to keep up his flying start.
Writing in De Telegraaf, the former striker says the expectations of the club, public and media are ‘immediately very high’ after his debut goal and with that comes an increasing pressure.
He warns that in the Netherlands they think too quickly when their players make such a step up and often underestimate how tough life can be in the Premier League.
Bergwijn is ‘just 22-years-old’ and in a ‘completely different world’ both sporting wise and in his private life. That, Kieft warns, will require a period of adjustment with trial and error.
He points to the likes of Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt, both of whom have found life difficult at Barcelona and Juventus this season after starring at Ajax, as evidence of that fact.
Berwijn will have to deal with the same sort of criticism they have received, with Kieft saying while he is a ‘great talent with potential’ but he showed it sparingly at PSV.
As a result, it remains to be seen if that potential talent will turn into actual ability during his time at Tottenham.
Memphis Depay is a perfect example of this, he was a star in the Eredivisie but did not manage to ‘break through’ at Manchester United, and it’s taken several years for him to hit his peak again.
Bergwijn is not as far ahead as Depay was and Kieft warns that he may have to prepare himself for a bit of suffering to ‘come out stronger in the end.’
