Vito van Crooij will be retained for the Eredivisie. The attacking midfielder was relegated last season with VVV-Venlo, but has since been picked up by Sparta Rotterdam. The number eight of the past Eredivisie season reported an agreement with VVV about the arrival of Van Crooij via the official channels on Friday afternoon.
It is not known what amount Sparta pays for Van Crooij. His contract in Venlo continued for three more seasons. After Kenzo Goudmijn (rented from AZ) and Laurent Jans (taken over from Standard Liège), he is the third acquisition of Sparta. Van Crooij comes from the youth academy of VVV and played for the first team between 2013 and 2018. After two seasons at PEC Zwolle he returned to VVV a year ago.
Van Crooij has gained the necessary experience in the Netherlands with 101 matches in the Kitchen Champion Division (30 goals, 11 assists) and 108 matches in the Eredivisie (17 goals, 19 assists). Technical director Henk van Stee of Sparta says in an initial reaction that the attacking midfielder had been on Sparta’s ‘retina’ for a long time. “As far as we are concerned, he is a player who suits Sparta well, especially with his match attitude.”
“Everyone knows that he can also add value with his pedaling technique and in the past he was also a successful couple with Lennart Thy”, Van Crooij knows. In the 2017/18 season, Thy was let by Werder Bremen to VVV, where he played together with Van Crooij. In the 2019/20 season, the two attackers met again at PEC; Thy then left Zwolle for Sparta, while Van Crooij went to VVV.
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