Look as hard as you like and ask whoever you want, nobody in the Netherlands has compared Tim van der Leij to Erling Haaland so far. Yet when VfB Stuttgart signed the 20-year-old striker from RKC Waalwijk, reports claimed people across the border were already calling him "Haaland 2.0". That came only from the German media.
Admittedly, the resemblance is not completely fanciful. Like the Norwegian, van der Leij has a flowing mane that he keeps in check with a headband when he plays. At 1.93 metres, he is also only slightly shorter than the former Dortmund man.
On the pitch, though, van der Leij brings a former Stuttgart player to mind far more readily. Despite his imposing frame, the Dutchman stands out above all for his technical quality, which makes Nick Woltemade the obvious comparison.
IMAGOHow often did Tim van der Leij score before his time at VfB Stuttgart?
VfB paid 1.2 million euros for a forward who has never played for a youth national team but has still risen quickly. Van der Leij spent three years in PSV Eindhoven's academy before playing for Vitesse Arnhem between 2017 and 2025. Across the U18s, U19s and U21s there, he scored 25 goals in 59 competitive matches.
Because Vitesse were on the verge of losing their licence last summer, van der Leij became available on a free transfer. Relegated Eredivisie side Waalwijk stepped in. The move to the Dutch yo-yo club in the second division took him back to his home province of Noord-Brabant and gave him the platform to shine straight away.
Although Waalwijk finished sixth and then missed out on an immediate return in the play-offs, van der Leij played a huge part in getting them that far. He scored 13 league goals and added four more in three cup matches. That return, along with his development into a regular starter, earned him his move to VfB and a contract until 2030.
IMAGO"Not logical": Tim van der Leij surprised by transfer to VfB Stuttgart
Initially, Stuttgart see him as a player for the second team in the 3. Liga while he settles into his new surroundings. Even so, the club announced his arrival through the first team's channels, and van der Leij posed for his contract picture with sporting director Christian Gentner. He can now look to fellow Dutchman Ramon Hendriks, who is represented by the same agency, as the example to follow. The 24-year-old also started out with the second team two years ago before quickly establishing himself with the professionals.
Either way, van der Leij knows the move to Germany is a big jump. "Stuttgart II play in the 3. Liga, which, mind you, is also a strong league. At some clubs I'll be playing in front of 20,000 or 30,000 spectators. Madness, right? That's significantly more than on a Friday night in Waalwijk," he recently told Dutch football magazine Voetbal International.
Speaking there, the two-footed striker sounded genuinely surprised that anyone on the Neckar had noticed him at all. He used the word "bizarre" several times when describing the transfer. "To be honest, I obviously didn't expect this step either," said van der Leij. "From Vitesse's U19s to VfB in just one year - that doesn't exactly sound logical."
IMAGOWhat prospects does Tim van der Leij have at VfB Stuttgart?
Even with that excitement, he had doubts about accepting the lucrative offer. "I talked about it at home. Isn't this all happening a bit too quickly? Wouldn't it be better to wait a bit longer? But it was such a great opportunity that I simply couldn't let it pass me by. Who's to say they'll come back next season? I had to take this chance. That's how it felt to me."
Next comes the key question: what does his path in Stuttgart actually look like? Sebastian Hoeneß already gave him 45 minutes in the recent 7-0 pre-season friendly win in Balingen. After his first sessions with the senior side, the Dutchman also looks very likely to travel to the upcoming training camp in Grassau.
One thing Hoeneß does not have in his squad is a tall, physically imposing centre-forward. Ermedin Demirovic is eight, and Deniz Undav as many as 14 centimetres shorter than van der Leij, whom his former Arnhem coach Rüdiger Rehm described to the Heilbronner Stimme as a "machine".
IMAGOThese are Tim van der Leij's strengths
Physically, van der Leij dominates in the air, much like Woltemade once did. As a target man, he also holds the ball up well and shields it effectively. Inside the box, he showed real determination for Waalwijk and finished ruthlessly thanks to excellent positioning, whether with his head or either foot. His pressing was convincing too. Tirelessness and energy run through his game.
As a boy, he already had the Bundesliga in mind. "The crazy thing is that, as a little boy, I always told my father that one day I wanted to play in the Bundesliga," said van der Leij, who hopes that, "if everything goes well", he can make it into the professional squad "at some point": "Maybe even in a Champions League match. That would be really cool."
IMAGOTim van der Leij at VfB Stuttgart: a comparable situation to last year
For now, there is still a very long road ahead. Probably the longest journey of his career so far. But VfB are not ruling anything out, and that setup will likely feel familiar to van der Leij.
At Waalwijk, he also arrived as the second striker behind the established number nine. The line back then was the same too: van der Leij needed time, then they would see. Soon after, he became impossible to ignore and everyone was talking about him. Just not in Haaland terms, because nobody in the Netherlands had thought of that one.
Tim van der Leij: Career statistics
Team | Competitive matches | Goals | Assists |
Vitesse Arnhem U18 | 38 | 16 | 1 |
Vitesse Arnhem U19 | 13 | 6 | 0 |
Vitesse Arnhem U21 | 8 | 3 | 0 |
RKC Waalwijk | 38 | 17 | 0 |