I'd be wary of buying the stars of Eredivisie.
Took a quick look and some players who moved for +30m these past few years are:
Memphis, Milik, Davinson Sanchez, Lozano, Bergwijn, VdB, Ziyech, Malen and of course MdL and FdJ.
Sure, I've pointed out above I'm wary of buying players from Eredivisie.
But as always I think they should be evaluated individually rather than just project they'll most likely flop in a bigger club/league because some other players coming from the same league did but forget about guys like Ibra and Suarez who became world class players. This is just lazy and something BBZ does, not what I would expect sport directors to do.
Dutch and Brazilian players are traditionally doing well at Barca but that doesn't mean every player from these countries will turn out the next Cruyff/Koeman or Rivaldo/Ronaldinho. You'll get a random Rochemback/Douglas or Bogarde/Afellay here and there. And regardless of how we (fans) rate different players it's clear 99% of players will be somewhere in between these extremes. It's up to the club's sporting department to decide if Gakpo's longterm impact could be closer to the first or the second group of players but ofc you never know how things will really work out in the end.
Some people might still doubt him but Frenkie is clearly proving he's a very good if not an elite player. Not watching Juve much but from what I've seen MDL has also improved a lot there after early struggles. Both far away from flops.
VdB looks like the most a product of Ajax system and not as good as some people thought but at the same time also went to the wrong club at the wrong time. I think he would do better in another club where a coach would have more confidence in him than OGS but he's clearly not on the same level as MDL or FDJ.
Not sure what's going on with Malen but I think for a selling club like Dortmund he was still worth a risk. They don't intend to compete seriously for titles and they'll give him another season to convince and improve his value before selling.
Is Ziyech really doing that bad at Chelsea? He was ok when I've watched them. He was also already 27 when he moved so can't exactly compare him to other players who were at the start of their twenties when they were sold imo.
Memphis flopped at United because he was just too young for a big step. He was also naive/stupid (similar to Dembele) and didn't fully focus on football. He did that when he got kicked in the ass and went to Lyon though so clearly deserves a credit for getting his career back on track. Not all players do that after they flop in a big club at young age.
I think Milik did good for Napoli, he's just injury prone.
So would Gakpo be a risky signing? Of course, there is a risk involved in every transfer. But if we can't get Haaland (who is also far from a guaranteed success just for the money involved and injury concerns) is he a more risky signing than someone like Isak or Schick who are proven in top 5 leagues but would probably cost twice as much? It really depends on how the club values these players.
Not saying we should sign Gakpo but if the club (who I suppose know much more about him than me; not just about his qualities on the pitch but also his personality etc. with our scouts doing a total background check on him - at least I'd expect club's sporting department doing that before we sign a player but you never know
) really likes him and they'll decide to pull a trigger on a forward then we shouldn't eliminate him from consideration just because some players coming from the same league didn't met expectations and potentially risk on missing out on the next star like Suarez or Ibra.
It's not like he would come in as our star signing expected to bring immediate success (and I think the same can be said about any forward we'll bring this season not named Haaland or possibly Salah). He would be more a complementary piece to the players already at the club and given time to develop. But just based on highlights there is something in him I like and he also looks versatile which would help him to get more playing time. So I wouldn't be mad if we'd sign him but Alemany, Cruyff&Co. should know better how much they rate him and if they have other players in a similar price range on their short list and how he compares to them.
This is what they should decide on not focusing on former Eredivisie "stars" that didn't exactly make expected impact in other clubs for various reasons and use that as a main reason to not sign Gakpo.
) for a winger in our system so I wonder if we see him more as a striker. Looks to me a bit like Isak.
