Player Analysis: Teun Koopmeiners
The Netherlands has been producing some outstanding players in recent years, with the current focus on youth development repaying off as a talented generation that looks like a strong contender at the Euros and for the upcoming major international tournaments. Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, and AZ produce some talented players at their disposal who are making a mark in the last few seasons. One player, who may not catch the spectator’s eye like a Donyell Malen or Frenkie de Jong is the AZ Alkmaar captain Teun Koopmeiners. The 23- year-old midfielder is grabbing the attention of European football enthusiasts as he leads one of the youngest, exciting teams to come out of Dutch football in recent years - boasting a wide range of talents that have risen from the academy to the first team such as Myron Boadu, Calvin Stengs, and Owen Wijndal, as well as orchestrator Teun Koopmeiners.
The Castricum born midfielder has been linked with moves to European giants such as Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool & Real Madrid and with a move to Atalanta at a sticking point with the deal still yet to progress from initial talks in the back end of the season. With these major interests from competing clubs in Europes' top 5 leagues, we should expect his transfer away from Eredivisie outfit AZ Alkmaar this summer.
Background:
Born in the northwestern town of Castricrum on February 28, 1998, Koopmeiners began his career at local club Vitesse ’22 before joining AZ Alkmaar’s academy in 2009 at the age of 11. He sailed through the ranks, quickly becoming an integral part of Dutch's youth teams where he would often wear the armband eventually progressed through the ranks, and was part of the club's successful reserve team, Jong AZ, he became champion of the Dutch third division in the 2016–17 season, reaching promotion to the Eerste Divisie. His calm, strong-minded, and professional on the pitch despite his stature charmed him towards his coaches, who were in awe of him.
He began his rise to the first team in 2017/18, where he stepped up to the reserves side and began training with the first team at just 19 years old in 2017. Koopmeiners made his professional debut for Jong AZ in a 3–1 away win over FC Den Bosch. He made his first-team debut on 1 October, coming on as a substitute for Alireza Jahanbakhsh for the final 30 minutes of a 4–0 home loss to Feyenoord. At the end of the 2017–18 season, AZ ended in third place, and thereby qualified for Europa League. In his first professional season, he made 26 league appearances in which he scored one goal. It didn’t take long for Koopmeiners to become a starter, playing on the left side of the midfield of manager John van den Brom’s 4-3-3, as AZ finished 3rd in the league and lost to Feyenoord in the KNVB Cup Final. He continued his impressive form the following season, this time as the left-sided centre back, typically playing alongside Ron Vlaar in the heart of the defense. AZ finished 4th in the league and was eliminated in the KNVB Cup semifinals to Willem II. He was beginning to blossom now and van den Brom was more than pleased with how he was developing, “He [Koopmeiners] gives us more technical control in midfield and we are better with him in the team”.
Position, attributes, and skills:
Koopmeiners is the orchestrator of AZ’s build-up play, playing on the left side of the midfield three in Jansen's 4-3-3, whilst occasionally deputizing in central defense. Koopmeiners is primarily a defensive midfielder, having come through the AZ academy. The Dutchman is an extremely composed and cultured player at the base of midfield, and since he is left-footed and can drop back to play at centre-back as well, there have been some comparisons to his compatriot Daley Blind, as well as to Nemanja Matić. The defensive midfielder this season has registered 15 goals & 5 assists, impressive... The Dutchman is a massive threat on set pieces and is also a dead-ball specialist.
Koopmeiners’s heatmap from 2020/21
Offensive Characteristics:
First of all, as stated previously Koopmeiners has been involved in 15 goals & 5 assists this season... mostly from set pieces but for a player who occupies the defensive midfield position and the frequent centre-back shift these are quite ridiculous numbers. Like I've said a lot of his goals came from the penalty spot as he is AZ Alkmaar’s primary spot taker. He’s part of the free-kick duty and some of the goals he’s scored from free-kicks which by the way are stunning! His technique is consistent and he generates enough power and movement to beat the wall and either score or force the keeper to make a save.
For example:
Now let's talk about his passing most importantly how progressive it is. Probably the biggest strength he possesses is his passing ability. Instead of driving up the field with the ball like a Ryan Gravenberch, he usually stays back to link up play from deep. He is very skilled and variable in his pass in attempting to play 14.17 long balls per 90 over the top - ranks in the top 95th percentile as well as playing progressive passes along the ground. Looking at passes to the final third (4.17) and penalty area per 90, Koopmeiners is one of the few Eredivisie midfielders who have performed well above the league average for both metrics. He is averaging 3.17 progressive passes and 1.15 passes into the penalty area per 90 this season in the league, which is underwhelming at least but it's understated and doesn't show just how important he has been for AZ in terms of ball progression into dangerous areas. It is also an indicator of his style of passing, given that this season he's been given more license than usual he is usually the deepest midfielder in the AZ lineup – he often tries to affect the game higher up the pitch through his passing from deep.
Koopmeiners’ creative potential is very evident in this possession phase. Here he receives the ball in his favoured left half-space position of the pitch and immediately spots Stengs making a run off-camera in behind the opposition defensive line, who he then finds with a beautifully weighted long cross pass. His vision is one of the most underrated parts of his game
The cross is so precise and so incisive that it puts Stengs in a position to score first time and not have to do too much with his body position.
Koopmeiners receives the ball just outside the box and is in a position where he can relatively have a shot but there is a crowd of defenders in front of him. Instead of taking a shot, he looks up, sees Jesper Karlsson making a run into the box, and calmly chips it over the defense to him for the easy finish:
Despite his role limiting him, he possesses excellent technique in his passes, and can easily break lines with his forward passing, bringing variety in AZ Alkamaar’s build-up process. He is very biased to his left foot when passing (uses it 81% of the time), however, his overall technique on the ball erases that concern and makes him an elite tool in the first phase.
In this instance, he’s dropped in the backline to receive the ball between the CB’s. As stated before he’s so adept in playing a long lofted pass and spotting off the ball runners in his forwards and that’s what he does on this occasion.
For example: the pass is played over the defensive line putting his teammate through on goal.
Defensive Characteristics:
Koopmeiners operates a big role in AZ’s defensive system, both when pressing high up the pitch as well as when in his own half. It is important to understand that the majority of his defensive work, like his passing, takes place in AZ’s half, with just 39% of his recoveries (3.1 per 90) in the opponent’s half of the pitch.
He is generally good at blocking space and is intelligent at understanding when to commit in the press. He carries out 6 pressures per 90 and 37.5% are successful - which ranks him in the top 98th percentile. The deep-lying playmaker has regained possession through tackles + interceptions (10.5) per game. A comparable number of times to the likes of Joshua Kimmich (9.2), Casemiro (10.5) & Højbjerg (10.9).
In this example, AZ Alkmaar get caught ball watching with a long diagonal pass instead of guarding the left-wing, and there isn’t a defending player anywhere near pressing the ball or blocking the pass, and its leads to the AZ goalkeeper being lobbed:
Koopmeiners shows why his clearance numbers are so good - averaging 4.87 clearances per 90. With the goal looking inevitable all AZ players give up in trying to clear the ball but not Koopmeiners who show his willingness to stop the ball from going in with a superb last-ditch clearance.
Conclusion:
After watching him extensively, Teun Koopmeiners is criminally underrated and not talked about with the other young midfielder in European football his ceiling might not be as high as Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham in my opinion but Dutch football have another gem on their hands in Teun Koopmeiners, he shows great composure and calmness in the midfield which shows in the players he plays with. Teun Koopmeiners has had another excellent season at AZ, and as we have seen, already possesses a number of attributes that would help him do well in one of the top European leagues. He is already captaining the side despite having just turned 23, and this is a testament to his mentality, which is another favourable attribute for clubs to consider. His agent recent comments suggested that he will be looking for a move in the summer, and with links to the likes of Rennes persisting, It would be exciting to see a Camavinga x Koopmeiners midfield, it will be extremely interesting to see where he ends up, as he has the ability and potential to be a top defensive midfielder for many years to come.
Written by @RaphaelAdelugb0
