Nick Olij is definitely switching from NAC Breda to Sparta Rotterdam. The keeper and captain of NAC reportedly signs a contract for four seasons in Rotterdam. Thanks to this transfer, Olij stands for his debut in the Eredivisie after no fewer than 236 matches in Dutch professional football. Olij kept one game for the first of AZ, but that was in the TOTO KNVB Cup.
For a few months now, Olij thought he was ready for a step up. In Breda, the goalkeeper still had a contract until mid-2024. At Sparta, he replaces Maduka Okoye, who will join England’s relegated Watford this summer. Sparta reportedly received no less than seven million euros for that transfer. Initially, a bid from Sparta was flatly rejected by NAC, but an agreement has since been reached. Both clubs confirm the news through the official channels on Thursday afternoon.
† Nick Olij = ????????
— Sparta Rotterdam (@SpartaRotterdam) June 16, 2022
After several seasons in the AZ promise team, Olij was leased to TOP Oss in 2018. Despite a good season in Oss, the club let his contract expire. NAC picked up the closing item and in Breda he became a fixed value below the bar. In 115 official games for the club, Olij cleared 35 times. In the past season in particular, he was the absolute star of the Pearl of the South†
After the Kitchen Champion Division gala in May, national coach Louis van Gaal praised Olij. He indicated that, if the goalkeeper makes the right step, the 26-year-old keeper still has a chance of a place in the Dutch national team. “He is 26 years old, so it is still possible. We have a problem in that position, as everyone knows. And we are not big on keepers,” said Van Gaal. In any case, Olij will work in a place where the national coach comes regularly; as a former Spartan, Van Gaal can be found regularly at Het Kasteel.
Van Gaal makes transfer suggestion: ‘I looked in your curriculum…’
The national coach gave the goalkeeper advice last month.
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