Jerdy Schouten can make his second appearance as an international for the Dutch team against Ireland on Saturday evening. The PSV midfielder, who made his debut under Louis van Gaal a year and a half ago, has since disappeared from the radar. Disappointing, he thinks.
It was Van Gaal who brought Schouten into the Dutch selection in the summer of 2022. The midfielder, who was still playing for Bologna, was in the starting line-up in the Nations League match against Wallonia and was allowed to participate for more than an hour.
In the months that followed, Schouten completely disappeared from the picture. “You don’t come here thinking: it’s once and never again“, he looks back on it now The Telegraph. “Of course I didn’t have that at the time. I might have imagined it a little differently. But that certainly doesn’t make it any less beautiful now.”
Compared to a year and a half ago, there is a small difference. “Maybe I have less nerves now than then, but the feeling of joy is the same,” Schouten continues. “It’s wonderful to be there again.”
Schouten has framed his debut shirt, the bunny is somewhere on his parents’ mantelpiece. “I enjoyed giving it to them. When the Dutch team played, it was quite an event at our home in Hellevoetsluis. We would sit in front of the TV with the whole family wearing the Dutch. If you achieve that yourself, that is very special.”
The fact that Schouten has now become the subject of a national discussion does not bother him much. The PSV midfielder is one of the candidates to become Frenkie de Jong’s permanent partner. However, the latter will have to miss the upcoming international matches due to an injury.
Schouten does not want to get ahead of things. “I don’t think you can say that until you’ve tried it. But I do think that good football players can always play football with each other. In that respect, it should work out fine,” he says with a quip.
On the one hand, Schouten finds it a shame that an experiment with Frenkie de Jong will not happen this international period. “On the other hand, I am of course here to show myself. And whether that is with or without Frenkie is secondary.”