“I have been very impressed” – Manager confirms interest in Leeds defender, ‘looking to the future’

One of the interesting stories at the moment is Belgium interest in convincing Pascal Struijk to represent them at international level.

The former Netherlands U17 man was born near Antwerp, and recently put in a request to be nationalised, confirming reports that Roberto Martínez had reached out to see if he were to be interested.

That was then confirmed by his agents, and it made sense, since both Jan Vertonghen and Thomas Vermaelen are ageing and will need replacing.

Martínez was said to enjoy having a left-footed centre-back in his plans, with Struijk fitting that bill, and the Spanish manager has now spoken out in Complètement Foot, relayed by RTBF.

He said: “I have been very impressed with his performances when he started playing for Leeds in the Championship. We need to look towards the future, and we don’t have that kind of profile. A left-footed centre-back. He’s a dynamic player, very present and who can play in different positions.

“We probably have the top of world football with Vertonghen and Vermaelen, but they are players who are above thirty years of age”.

Confirming his interest in Struijk, Martínez then went on to explain that he and his staff ‘would take a decision nearer to the camp in March’, before adding that he was also trying to convince two or three other players alongside the Leeds defender to switch allegiances.