Subject to corona or an injury, Fabian de Keijzer will make his Eredivisie debut for FC Utrecht in the home match against Ajax on Sunday. After lesser performances against PSV and in the cup against NAC Breda, René Hake has chosen to replace Maarten Paes with the 21-year-old goalkeeper, who has impressed this season in the Kitchen Champion Division and has been part of the selection of several times. Young the Dutch. “You have to get the chance once. It doesn’t matter that it is immediately against Ajax”, assures Jan Willem van Ede, club icon of the Domstedelingen.
Van Ede is surprised about the goalkeeper carousel at FC Utrecht, as he himself was the keeper of the first for fourteen seasons in a row. “Now there is someone else every six months,” the former goalkeeper says on Friday The Telegraph. At the beginning of this season, Paes was preferred over Eric Oelschlägel and De Keijzer. Hake said at the time that the level of the keepers was close to each other. The changing of the guard is a hard blow for Paes, who has lost his place under the bar for the third time. According to the newspaper, the goalkeeper is on his way to an as yet unknown club in Major League Soccer.
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“A few years ago they were cheering at FC Utrecht because they had three keepers with the Dutch Juniors”, Van Ede refers to Paes, De Keijzer and Thijmen Nijhuis. The latter is now being withdrawn by FC Utrecht from his rental period to MVV Maastricht. “I already said at the time that they would get in each other’s way and that has proven to be the case. But I’ve heard at the club for some time that De Keijzer was potentially the best of the young keepers and that they saw in him the keeper of the future.”
The fact that De Keijzer will make his debut in the Eredivisie against Ajax is not a problem according to Van Ede. “He makes a good impression at Jong FC Utrecht. De Keijzer has the good build for a keeper and also holds his own when it comes to playing soccer. (…) Now is the time for him to show it. Let’s hope that FC Utrecht finally gets some stability under the bar with De Keijzer.”
After all, the chance for De Keijzer means the sixth (!) goalkeeper change in two and a half years. David Jensen was sacrificed in mid-2019 in favor of Paes, who was injured six months later and saw how Jeroen Zoet came to the Domstad. Paes started 2020/21 as the first goalkeeper again, but after a corona infection he lost his base place to Nijhuis. In December, Paes again became the first goalkeeper, but after a serious concussion in the goalkeeper, Oelschlägel took place under the bar. At the start of this season, Paes won the competition, although in the end it was only for six months.