Meet Jeyland Mitchell, the teenager for whom Feyenoord is transferring 2.5 million euros to Costa Rica

Feyenoord director Dennis te Kloese has been quite active on the transfer market early in the summer. After Anis Hadj Moussa, Gijs Smal, Chris-Kévin Nadje and Julián Carranza, Jeyland Mitchell is the fifth reinforcement for the first team of the Rotterdammers. The nineteen-year-old defender is taken over from LD Alajuelense for no less than 2.5 million euros. But who is this seven-time international? Football zone looked it up!

By Wessel Antes

'Here we go', tweeted transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano on Wednesday evening around seven o'clock. “Feyenoord have reached a package deal of 2.5 million euros to sign Costa Rican international Jeyland Mitchell. Medical examination before the weekend, because Mitchell will land in Rotterdam on Thursday.”

It has now been announced that Feyenoord will be signing the teenager for five seasons. Where the German Transfer market Mitchell's market value is estimated at 175,000 euros, it will go down in history as a multi-million dollar purchase at the Stadium ClubHowever, anyone who delves deeper into Mitchell will quickly understand why Feyenoord is investing millions to buy out his contract, which runs until mid-2027.

Where it all started

Mitchell (29 September 2004) was born in Puerto Limón, a busy port city on the Caribbean coast. The right-footer comes from a true football family. His grandfather, Harald Mitchell, was active for the Costa Rican professional clubs Limonense and Cartaginés. Cousin Josué Mitchell (34) is a single international and plays as a striker for Pérez Zeledón. Little Jeyland himself started playing football for Limón at the age of five.

According to the Costa Rican The Teja Mitchell was quickly regarded as a great talent. In 2020, the defender was given the opportunity to join the youth academy of forty-time national champion Deportivo Saprissa, his mother's favorite club. However, the corona pandemic threw a spanner in the works, causing him to return to Limón a year later.

Mitchell fails to break through to the first team. In a statement to the daily newspaper The Nation mother Mirta revealed three months ago that her son was about to switch to basketball during that period. When his favorite coach Luis Fernando Fallas starts working at Guanacasteca, Mitchell decides to give football another chance.

His big breakthrough

Under Fallas, Mitchell makes his debut as a professional footballer in the 2021/22 season at the age of seventeen. He slowly gains experience in the Costa Rican Primera División, until a meniscus injury keeps him out for a long time in 2022. After 26 official matches in two years, he chooses to move to AD Municipal Liberia in July 2023, where he deliberately signs for only six months.

Within six months Mitchell will be in the spotlight at Alajuelense, his favorite club, which is known as one of the biggest clubs in Costa Rica. However, he has to join the Leones First he has to prove himself in the highest reserve team. When Alexis Gamboa gets injured, Mitchell grabs his chance with both hands.

With his blond haircut, Mitchell is a striking appearance.

How it goes now

The teenager makes his debut against his old club Liberia in the first team of Alajuelense. He does not lose his starting place. In fact: Mitchell plays so well that national coach Gustavo Alfaro calls him up for the national team. Mitchell has not played a single youth international for his native country, but has now made seven caps as a full international.

In recent weeks, Mitchell has been in the United States for the Copa América, his first final tournament with Costa Rica. The physically strong man-marker started the tournament with an excellent statistic: in the first four internationals that Mitchell played, Costa Rica did not concede a single goal.

In California, Mitchell extended that statistic to five games without conceding a goal against no small opponent: Brazil. Real Madrid stars Rodrygo and Vinícius Júnior were followed to the toilet at SoFi Stadium by Mitchell, who impressed with his trademark: a series of great tackles.

In the second group match against Colombia, Mitchell is brought back down to earth. Striker and direct opponent Jhon Córdoba (31) scores a goal and an assist, causing Costa Rica to lose 3-0. The last group match against Paraguay is won 2-1, but four points are not enough for a place in the quarter finals of the Copa.

Mitchell in a duel with Brazilian striker Endrick, who will join Real Madrid this summer.

Greatest qualities

Anyone who saw Mitchell play during the Copa América will be particularly impressed by his physical condition. The 1.87-meter defender is enviably strong for someone who will be celebrating his twentieth birthday in two months. Thanks to his duelling strength, Mitchell can make life difficult for almost any attacker.

In addition, Mitchell is incredibly fast. While it looked several times against Brazil that he would lose out to Vinícius, he never really let himself be beaten by the speed demon of the Royal.

Finally, tackles: several Feyenoord supporters shared the images of Mitchell against Vinícius in recent days. In the short fragments, you can see how the world star is repeatedly outdone by a wonderful intervention from Mitchell.

Room for improvement

Mitchell's tackles are sometimes quite wild, which means he has to report to the often quite lenient South American referees on a regular basis. In his first fifty official matches, Mitchell received nine yellow cards.

Mitchell was once shown a second yellow card, which resulted in him being sent off with a red card. On May 16 of this year, he even received his first direct red card in the 88th minute of the home match against CS Herediano (1-0 win), when he went over the line with a hard foul. In Rotterdam-Zuid, Mitchell will have to learn to pace himself so that he does not cause problems for Feyenoord.

And now?

It is expected that Mitchell will quickly join the Feyenoord selection, where he is seen as a direct reinforcement for the first team. In principle, the Costa Rican does not have to be there immediately. Brian Priske, the new head coach of the Rotterdam top club, already has two excellent right-footed centre backs at his disposal in Gernot Trauner and Thomas Beelen.

In addition, Antef Tsoungui returns from a good loan to alliance club FC Dordrecht. EC participant Lutsharel Geertruida will still leave Feyenoord, so it is up to Mitchell to show how quickly he is ready for De Kuip.

More news





More sports news