Marciano Vink was disturbed by the attitude of Wout Weghorst when the striker was changed on Sunday in the game between the Netherlands and Georgia (3-0 win). After the striker had scored his first goal for the the Dutch squad, national coach Frank de Boer took him to the side in favor of Donyell Malen. Weghorst reacted disappointed and De Boer was visibly not pleased with that, Vink noted on Monday evening at football talk.
Weghorst had been struggling with the Dutch national team for a long time because of his good season at VfL Wolfsburg. The 28-year-old striker received a base place from De Boer in the past two exhibition games for the the Dutch squad and seems to have won the competition with Luuk de Jong. In the 5-3-2 system of the national coach, Weghorst can in all likelihood prepare for a base place on Sunday at the start of the European Championship group stage against Ukraine (9 p.m.).
“We already had a suspicion and we knew it, with the first lions when he scored at Wolfsburg you already knew: it is very deep,” said Vink at the program of ESPN. With ‘the first lions’ Vink refers to Weghorst’s way of cheering. “Everyone gives him the goal, only you can extend it if you are substituted and that was not okay. If you have passed De Jong in one fell swoop in the hierarchy and are replaced by another player, so not even your competitor, and then have such an attitude… I could see from Frank de Boer’s face that he did not like that served.”
Sjoerd Mossou, journalist for Algemeen Dagblad, then added: “For a modest footballer he is very immodest, that’s a fact. That is quite remarkable, because he is not a cuddly footballer. He is quite irritating.” In turn, Vink added: “Is he trying really hard to be liked or become a cult hero? I do not know. It’s very bad over the top.”
According to Mossou, the public likes how Weghorst manifests itself at the Dutch. “Of course he is a bit of an antihero, who made it to the Dutch national team through FC Emmen and Heracles Almelo.” Vink thinks former Feyenoord player József Kiprich is more of an antihero than Weghorst. “And people think that’s nice, but it shouldn’t get annoying,” the analyst concluded.
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