Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 11:22 PM• Chris Meijer

There are sounds in the program Studio Football of the NOS extremely laudatory sounds about Cody Gakpo. Ibrahim Afellay draws the comparison in the talk show with AZ attacker Calvin Stengs, who was part of the selection of the Dutch in the last international period. The former midfielder wonders whether Stengs can also show the same ‘aggression’ and ‘ambitions’ as Gakpo in the long term.

“What a fantastic match he played”, says NOS journalist Arno Vermeulen in the talk show about the 21-year-old Gakpo. “He may also be a football player that drives us crazy as fans. He was busy throughout the game and well, he is very all-round. Physically, technique, he can shoot: we are estimating how good he is after that injury that left him out of the picture for a while. He really knocks on Frank de Boer’s door with both hands. ”

“When you see Gakpo at work and compare it with Calvin Stengs, it radiates so much ambition. There is so much aggression in his game. You wonder whether that will happen again at Stengs ”, Afellay points out to Stengs. Gakpo was good for 10 goals and 3 assists in 25 official games for PSV this season. Stengs played 10 more games for AZ: the 22-year-old wing attacker scored 6 goals and 5 assists in 35 matches.

“I don’t think it will come”, Theo Janssen responds to Afellay’s words. “He’s the kind of player who can play very well and does a good job, but is a bit phlegmatic. If you don’t walk it, you look at him and you think: pff, does he feel like it? Is he doing everything about it? That boy might do everything about it, but it doesn’t look like it. When Gakpo starts sprinting, you see power in his run. You don’t have that at Stengs. ”