Halil Dervisoglu was recently offered to Feyenoord, you know Feyenoord Transfermarkt to report. The Rotterdammers are still ‘diligently looking’ for a striker, but it is reported that nothing has been decided for the time being. The 21-year-old Dervisoglu has returned to Brentford this summer after a loan period with Galatasaray, where he is still under contract until mid-2024.
Dervisoglu was on the reserve bench at Brentford for 90 minutes during the first Premier League game of the season against Arsenal (2-0 win) last Friday. The Bees paid three million euros in January 2020 to unleash the striker at Sparta Rotterdam. Six months, eight games and zero goals later, Brentford let Dervisoglu go for the first time, on a rental basis to FC Twente. The return to the Netherlands was not a success, because both parties decided to split up prematurely after only a few months.
Galatasaray then took over Dervisoglu on a rental basis and he had a good six months with the Turkish top club. With three goals and two assists in twelve official games, he earned a spot in Turkey’s European Championship squad, appearing as a substitute in the group matches against Italy and Wales. Trainer Arne Slot admitted after the game against Willem II (0-4 victory) that he would like to add a striker to the selection. Previously, Andraz Sporar (Sporting Portugal) and Graziano Pellè (clubless) were named for this vacancy.
“I think there is still a need for an extra attacker”, Slot answered at ESPN to the question whether the arrival of a striker is seen as an urgent need. “You also see today, for example, that if Alireza Jahanbakhsh is not there, I choose to have Jens Toornstra start from the right. He got better and better after the first fifteen minutes. But it does make a difference whether you play at home or away. Out you can fill it in between the lines, but at home the opponent will probably collapse more and then you need a winger more.”
“But you referred to a striker and I think and found that Bryan Linssen fills that in excellently,” continued the Feyenoord trainer. Linssen provided the opening goal in the game against Willem II. “He works incredibly hard for the team. Of course we look around us. The front is a bit narrow. We know that. And that’s why we’re not talking specifically about the striker, but certainly also about the outside. I put a left back as a left winger and a right midfielder as a right winger.”
“It is slightly easier for a striker, because you often play a little closer to the goal and can put a little more pressure on you,” Linssen said in conversation with ESPN about his role as a striker. “Today we sometimes had a bit of trouble to really put pressure on Willem II. In the end, we often come up with a good solution and we looked for the football solution, which makes it easier for us to reach the goal. I just want to play,” said Linssen in that talk about his role. “In the striker, on the right or on the left, it doesn’t matter. As long as I can be important to the team.”
“He can become Slot’s favorite striker if he continues to score goals. I think he can be successful at Feyenoord in that position, even though his first year was difficult. He has a certain urge, is smart, can head well. and it looks like he’s going to be served,” Kenneth Perez said in the studio ESPN. “Siniterra is one of Feyenoord’s best players, so the left winger position is forgiven as far as I’m concerned. Linssen is a good interim solution, until a cheap striker is released. Feyenoord is lower in the food chain, so they have to pick their striker late in the transfer window. “