Dirty Details
Name: Joey Veerman
Nationality: The Netherlands
Current Club: Heerenveen FC
Age: 22 (Birthday, Nov 19)
Physical Stats: 1.85m, 75 kg
Transfermarkt Value: $7.7M, contract ends 2024
Position: Defensive Midfield
Strengths: Long Balls, Passing, Composure, Vision
Weaknesses: Lapses of Awareness, Assertiveness
To Be Determined: Playing in a Pivot
The Atalanta Passione Scouting Series travels to the Eredivisie for the first time to look at another Dutch Midfielder. Joey Veerman of Heerenveen FC – which happens to be Marten de Roon’s old club – has been stirring a lot of rumors of a transfer to Atalanta, making this a much more realistic view of what we may have in a signing. A transfermarkt value of $7.7M is a severely undervaluing the potential Veerman has (frankly I don’t think a club gets him for less than $15M). With rumors of a deal around 6M euros being floated around Dutch new sources, Atalanta could be an absolute steal to usher in the new blood of Atalanta’s midfield.
Veerman’s obvious skills are on offense. He stays on the ball well, has great vision, and is a dynamic passer (especially with the longball). With 7 goals and 9 assists, his quality shows up not only in footage, but the stat-line as well. And he’s doing this all from a defensive midfield position! My biggest worry with Veerman, as most players, is his transition into the double pivot. In the match I watched him against Ajax he was responsible often for manmarking Davy Klaassen. Overall he did quite well, but there were some instances where he was caught napping, didn’t have the greatest communication to teammates for switch-offs – and in one instance it led to an Ajax half chance with Klaassen getting into a dangerous area of box the unmarked without anyone covering his run. I think mental lapses such as this get cleared up with time, and being only 22 years old, I thought he held his own marking one of the best midfielders in the Eredivisie.
I envision Atalanta is not interested in Veerman for what sort of defense wizard they can turn him into, but rather his offensive capabilities. The dude is absolutely lethal on the ball! He has the long ball down to perfection, and is very composed in the middle of the pitch. Similar to my report on Schouten, he possesses the mindset of always wanting to get forward, but Veerman has a penchant for just skipping all of the fluff in the middle of the pitch and just getting the ball onto a striker or winger. He placed three or four deadly balls that were bottled by Heerenveen’s attacking players. I froth at the mouth with what Zapata or Muriel would’ve done with these killer passes. A video is worth hundreds of thousands of words, so I encourage you to watch for yourself what he can do with that right foot.
The fact that this potential transfer actual has a little bit of momentum says something about how Gasperini may be looking to transition his system. Veerman is technically superior to both our double pivot mates in de Roon and Freuler, but oppositely he doesn’t possess the industry that both of them do at closing down every opponent – at least his current tactical set up doesn’t let him attempt this. If this signing does go through Gasperini may be wanting a little more firepower in the back of his formation, and it also could be a signal of aiming more towards a back four. Imagine a midfield of de Roon – Veerman – Freuler: de Roon drops back to play in defense so frequently, that the overlaps that we currently see between the double pivot and the defenders would probably not really change. Instead, an additional attacking threat in the lineup can bring more balance to the team. Two hard workers plus a playmaker in midfield – with two playmakers/strikers plus a hardworker (read Pessina) in attack could be a very interesting formation, especially if Atalanta continue to throw out loads and loads of defensive runs and overlaps. This potential signing could be very exciting, and would love to see this guy in black and blue. Make it happen Percassi!!! As always, Forza Dea!
