Luuk de Jong takes over the PSV captaincy from Marco van Ginkel, according to the line-up for the friendly match against Arminia Bielefeld. Both players are in the basic formation of Ruud van Nistelrooij, who further prefers Guus Til in number 10. Xavi Simons is sitting on the couch. The match starts at 3:30 PM.
Under Roger Schmidt, Cody Gakpo was the reserve captain. Because Van Ginkel didn’t play much, Gakpo usually wore the band in practice. Van Nistelrooij therefore appoints De Jong as his new captain. The center striker has already played that role at PSV in two different periods, the first under Philip Cocu. Due to a form crisis, De Jong gave up the band to Van Ginkel for a while, but in 2018 when Mark van Bommel was appointed, De Jong became captain again.
For the first time this preparation, PSV’s line-up is starting to resemble the intended basic formation. Walter Benítez already played a few times, but for right back Ki-Jana Hoever and number 10 Til, the exhibition game with Arminia will be their unofficial debut. For De Jong, the match is of course an ‘unofficial return’, after the striker already played for PSV between 2014 and 2019. Jordan Teze and Cody Gakpo also return to PSV after international obligations with the the Dutch squad.
PSV line-up: Benitez; Hoever, Teze, Luckassen, Max; Van Ginkel, Til, Veerman; Madueke, De Jong (c), Gakpo.
Team PSV ??#ARMPSV pic.twitter.com/DnvVxAbyOj
— PSV (@PSV) July 9, 2022