Thursday, August 26, 2021 at 07:16

Johan Derksen suggested in Veronica Inside that Joey Veerman might be a good reinforcement for AZ. Pascal Jansen, coach of the Alkmaarders, calls the 22-year-old midfielder at the press conference in the run-up to the match between AZ and Celtic in the last preliminary round of the Europa League ‘a very good player, but not more than that’.

“If Johan Derksen says so, then so be it. I think Joey is a very good player. Can we pay him? I wouldn’t know. If you ask my opinion, I’ll say Joey is a good player. Not more than that. It’s that you say it now”, Jansen answers questions about Veerman. The coach also does not dare to say whether AZ will strike at the end of the transfer period. “I would not know. You shouldn’t ask me that question either.”

View the full press conference with Pascal Jansen and Teun Koopmeiners here.

One player who has already been welcomed is Sam Beukema. The center defender, who came over from Go Ahead Eagles, is still waiting for his official debut. “He manifests himself well, coincidentally I sat with him yesterday. Sam is a great guy, I’m really glad he joined our roster. He brings personality, has had a good phase at Go Ahead Eagles and was ready for a step up. He got that with us, he gets the time to adjust. This is mainly due to the pace and intensity. He is getting better and better, during the training sessions too. He is well on his way.”

At the same time, Teun Koopmeiners still hopes for a departure from AZ at the end of the transfer window. “Everything is known there about what should be known. That is now unimportant towards the game against Celtic. For me and the team now the most important thing is that we have to win. I would prefer to leave AZ behind in the Europa League. Until now, that has been with me,” Koopmeiners reacted during the press conference. “There have been a number of possibilities”, Jansen also agrees in the run-up to the return against the Scottish top club. “We should not underestimate Celtic, they have been champions of Scotland nine times in the last ten years and have very decent players.”