The Team Of Tomorrow
Holland have some exciting young talent coming through the ranks.
Ola John is just 20, and has just enjoyed his breakthrough season at Dutch side FC Twente having progressed through their youth academy. John topped the UEFA Europa League group stage assist rankings with six assists, and has already represented the Netherlands in the senior team, and played against England at Wembley in a friendly.
Georginio Wijnaldum is 21. A youth product of Feyenoord, he is the youngest player ever to represent the team professionally and played 130 matches for them in a five-year period before joining PSV Eindhoven. He made his debut for the Netherlands senior team in a Euro 2012 qualifying match against San Marino on September 2, 2011. He wasted no time in impressing - he came on as a substitute in the 86th minute and promptly scored his first international goal in the 90th minute to complete an
eleven-nil stuffing.
Adam Maher is 18. He made his professional debut for Alkmaar Zaanstreek as just sixteen years old, and was even named in the provisional list of 36 players for the Euro 2012 tournament despite his youth. That alone is a testament to his ability, and you should expect to head plenty from him in the coming years.
Siem de Jong, 23, no relation to Nigel de Jong. On 11 August 2010, De Jong made his debut for the senior Netherlands side at just 21 in the 1-1 draw with Ukraine in a friendly match, playing the first 62 minutes. In 168 appearances for Ajax in a five year spell, he has scored 53 times. He was named in the provisional list of 36 players for Euro 2012 but narrowly missed out. Premier League fans may have heard of
Jeffrey Bruma. He is currently on loan from Chelsea at Hamburger SV. The 20 year old centre back is seen as the long term replacement for Joris Mathijsen. Bruma joined Chelsea's youth setup from Feyenoord at the age of 15 for a fee of £100,000 and was making appearances for the reserve team by the age of 16. In the 200708 season, Bruma played centre back in every round of the FA Youth Cup run to the final and made the most amount of appearances in the youth league. Expect to see these players shine at the 2014 World Cup.