It is only a matter of time before Givairo Read makes his debut for the Netherlands. That is the expectation of Voetbal International journalist Lentin Goodijk, as he says on the podcast VI ZSM.
Despite an extremely difficult European Championship qualifying campaign, the Netherlands Under-21s can still hope to reach the final tournament. On Tuesday, Michael Reiziger's side secured second place in the group by the narrowest of margins, sending them into the play-offs.
When asked which player has surprised him in a positive way during this international period with the Netherlands Under-21s, Goodijk replied: “If you just watch the matches, I think Givairo Read really stands out, for example.”
“You can simply see it in little clever moments, his maturity, going into a duel or just taking a small step back because you know the ball will still come to your feet. But also in the right decisions in possession under pressure, and the important duels he has to win, he does win them. He has the physical strength for that too.”
“That is also how you notice that he already has dozens of matches at a high level to his name, including in the Champions League. This is a player who really will make the step up to the Netherlands at some point.”
Still, Goodijk pointed out that Read faces stiff competition in his position. “Of course, he is a bit unfortunate that he has two players ahead of him in his position, in Denzel Dumfries and Jurriën Timber, who may well be among the five best right-backs in the world. So just try getting into the team then,” Goodijk said.
Goodijk believes Read is far from the only talent in the squad. “You can mention Kees Smit as well, of course. And perhaps Dies Janse will continue to develop for the future. We have now seen Sean Steur with the Netherlands Under-21s for the first time, of course. He fits in very easily as well, really. So individually there are certainly a lot of talents in this group, only collectively they had not yet been able to perform well. And that has now started to come as well a little bit.”