‘I Don’t Agree With That’ – Ronald Koeman Clear On Aston Villa Loan Star’s Holland Role
Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman has made it clear that he will not build the Dutch national team around Aston Villa star Donyell Malen, despite his superb form at Roma.
The former Arsenal youth product has been a real revelation since he made a move to Serie A giants Roma in the winter transfer window.
He has scored 12 goals and provided two assists in only 16 games across all competitions for the Giallorossi, who intend to sign him permanently and keep him despite talk of growing interest.
Malen was mostly deployed as a wide attacker when he was at Aston Villa and left them to play more as a number 9.
He has shown his immense quality as a central striker in Italy, where he believes his qualities are better suited to the football being played compared to the Premier League.
Roma have made it an absolute priority to activate Malen’s €25m option to buy before the end of next month, even though they may well need to offload players to be able to do it.
Malen will be at the World Cup with the Netherlands in the summer and could further cause Aston Villa to rue agreeing to such a low option to buy in the deal with Roma.
It has been suggested that Koeman should build the Netherlands team around Malen given his form.
The Netherlands coach believes that the Villa loanee enjoys considerable freedom playing as a winger, with considerable support from Inter Milan star Denzel Dumfries, and as such rejected the idea.
“I don’t agree with that”, Koeman said via Dutch outlet Voetbal Primeur when he was asked about building the team around Malen and playing him as a number 9.
“When Malen played on the right wing for us, it was always in a free role, cutting inside.
“That works perfectly with Dumfries as a full-back.
“So you’re already adapting that to some extent because he isn’t a true right-winger.”
The former Barcelona boss, though, has not closed the door on Malen playing as the main striker for the Netherlands, stressing that he will consider his options, seeing who is fit and who is not.
“It could be possible that he becomes the main striker, but I won’t know until I know who’s available and who’s fit.
“In principle, we have three strikers in the squad.
“If Memphis [Depay] hasn’t played a match by the time pre-season starts, I’m not convinced I’ll take him along”, the 63-year-old added.
Dutch legend Ruud Gullit has hailed Malen and thinks the attacker has everything in his game.
If Malen continues to hit the heights then questions may be asked about why Unai Emery did not get more from him at Villa Park.
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