Teun Koopmeiners passed by on Saturday evening for the game against RKC Waalwijk. The AZ midfielder is left out of the starting eleven by trainer Pascal Jansen because, according to the coach, there is too much playing because of a possible transfer. Moreover, Koopmeiners joined later in the preparation, partly due to his participation in the European championship. “I want eleven people on the field today who are thinking about AZ,” Jansen told ESPN.
AZ will compete against RKC with a midfield with Tijjani Reijnders, Jordy Clasie and Dani de Wit. This means that Koopmeiners is passed by Jansen. “Teun is fit, getting fitter. But he has also indicated in recent weeks that he would like to take a step. We have trained him within those frameworks and given him match minutes, but today I want to have eleven people on the field who are their thoughts are with AZ. We want to win the match with that. I don’t rule out a substitute for him, otherwise I wouldn’t have brought him.”
? Teun Koopmeiners will not start in the base at AZ today against RKC.
“I want to have eleven people on the field today who are thinking about AZ”
? 4.30 pm
?? ESPN
#?? #RKCAZ pic.twitter.com/nUjrpFpCvw— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) August 14, 2021
Jansen does not dare to predict whether he will have Koopmeiners at his disposal next season. Owen Wijndal, who has often been linked to a transfer in recent weeks, is still not sold. “I have learned that you should not expect too much, then you cannot be disappointed. There has been some rumbling around Koopmeiners. Not at the moment around Wijndal. They both still play at AZ and I assume that.” Wijndal is injured and is therefore not part of the match selection against RKC.
Koopmeiners seems to be on the eve of a transfer to Atalanta, as the Italians have already indicated several times that they are interested in the left leg. The transfer from Christian Romero to Tottenham Hotspur should accelerate the transition from Koopmeiners to Atalanta, it was recently reported in Italian media. AS Roma and Napoli were also linked to the midfielder. Koopmeiners has been a fixed value at AZ for several seasons. The captain had seventeen goals and seven assists in forty official games last season.
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