The fact that Mexican national coach Jaime Lozano believes that Santiago Gimenez has outgrown the Eredivisie is surprising to Maarten Wijffels. The journalist of it Algemeen Dagblad is of the opinion that the top scorer would be better off staying with Feyenoord for a while before he makes the step to the European top.
Lozano has high expectations of the only 22-year-old Gimenez. “He can become the future striker of this Mexico,” he said in conversation with the Latin American channel Star+. “Santi is doing better than expected at Feyenoord, which means I think he is ready for the step to a better competition.”
“It’s also good for Santi to take the next step,” added the enthusiastic Lozano. “Of course the Eredivisie is of a good level, but I think he has now proven that he can reach a higher level in Europe.”
Wijffels
Wijffels expects that Lozano’s statement about Gimenez could have consequences. “That will gain momentum in the coming months,” the football follower predicts AD Football podcast. “Because I don’t know any better, I also heard that at PSV about Hirving Lozano, than that they really rate the Eredivisie and the Dutch top clubs highly.”
“PSV is a good example, but so is Ajax. They really had Mexican internationals who achieved great things in Europe,” Wijffels refers to Edson Álvarez, who left for West Ham United last summer. “The Eredivisie is really well regarded in Mexico.”
Gimenez
Wijffels is cautious about the statements of the Mexican national coach. “It may be that he didn’t say it differently, we don’t know. But the message we get is really that it is time for the next step for Gimenez. Of course, you can have different opinions about that.”
“But when I see Gimenez playing in recent weeks, I would say: ‘Stay at Feyenoord for a while, because the ceiling has not yet been reached here’. The national coach has said what he thought, and he can do that. But It will soon have its own dynamic. Does such an individual care about that, or not at all? I think his father thinks it’s fantastic that he stays at Feyenoord,” says Wijffels.