Ronald Koeman wasted no time in replacing midfield metronome Morgan Schneiderlin last week by securing the services of Jordy Clasie from Feyenoord for a reported £8m. The 24-year-old, who arrives at St Mary’s on a five-year contract, admitted the chance to reunite with his compatriot was too good an opportunity to turn down:
“It feels good to be joining Southampton. It’s a nice club, and I’m happy to be here. It’s a big club playing in what I think is the biggest and most important league. Ronald being here is a big thing for me and that was important in me coming here, but even if he wasn’t here, I’d have come to this club. I played every game for him. He’s a good trainer and a good man so I like him, but I came here not only for him. I came here for the club. I’ve watched many games of Southampton, and it’s felt good when I’ve watched these games. I hope that I have many good moments and good years here.”
THE HISTORY
Clasie has been a one-club man until his move to England. Joining the Feyenoord Academy at the age of nine, he worked his way up through the ranks to become a first-team stalwart.
Ahead of the 2010-11 season, Clasie was sent on loan to feeder club Excelsior in order to gain experience. The midfielder was thrown in at the deep end, starting all but three league fixtures during the campaign, and chipped in with two goals and five assists.
Clasie returned to Feyenoord the following season whilst the club were in financial disarray. Ronald Koeman took the reins that summer, recognised the youngster’s potential and immediately handed him a starting role. What followed was an evolution in playing quality as the likes of Clasie, Stefan de Vrij and Graziano Pelle helped re-establish the club as one of the main contenders in the Eredivisie, with Koeman guiding his new side to second and third spots over the next two seasons. The club’s upturn in fortunes was accredited to the prolific Pelle but Clasie also became a fans’ favourite thanks to his tenacious attitude and tireless work-rate.
Koeman’s departure in 2014 sparked an exodus of players but Clasie stayed loyal to his childhood club. The following campaign was turbulent with a shaky start but Southampton’s new arrival took over the captaincy and guided his side to a fourth-place finish. In total, the midfielder made 155 appearances for Feyenoord and contributed eight goals and 24 assists.
Despite his tender age, Clasie has also enjoyed a rapid rise to the Netherlands’ senior team. After impressing for the Under-21 side, he was made a stand-by ahead of Euro 2012 by former Dutch boss Bert van Marwijk when he was only 20 years old. Two years later, with Louis van Gaal at the helm for the 2014 World Cup, Clasie made two appearances – first as a substitute in the semi-finals against Argentina before starting the third-place play-off clash with Brazil.
THE PROSPECTS
At first glance, Clasie doesn’t seem an enticing Fantasy football option; two goals and five assists in 31 appearances last season are far from fantastic returns for a midfielder who comes in at 5.5 in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game. A deep-lying role and defensive responsibilities mean that he is unlikely to get his name on the score sheet often; though as we saw last season, Schneiderlin (four goals), Victor Wanyama (three) and Jack Cork (two) were all afforded leeway to roam forward and join in their side’s attacks.
Certainly, Schneiderlin’s departure should afford the Dutchman a chance to immediately nail down a spot alongside Wanyama in Koeman’s preferred 4-2-3-1 set-up, though youngsters such as James Ward-Prowse, Harrison Reed and Jake Hesketh could all step up to the plate. Speaking to the club’s official website, the Saints manager reckons Clasie has both the ability and mentality to succeed in his new environment:
“It’s a good replacement for Morgan Schneiderlin. He needs, like all new players, time for adaptation to the Premier League level. But he’s a quality player. He’s still young and he can develop himself. That’s no problem. For every player a challenge is when they come to the Premier League. The intensity is much higher than in Holland, that’s always the difficult part in the beginning. You have to adapt to the intensity, but he’s a good player and good players find it a little bit more easy. What’s also important is not only the qualities but the character of the player. You know more than if you get a new player. Of course you know his qualities but I know the player and I like to know the players also out of the pitch.”
Ultimately, Clasie’s arrival will be more important in terms of the Saints’ defensive returns rather than his own, given that the St Mary’s side produced 15 clean sheets in each of the two previous seasons. There’s no denying that Schneiderlin was vital in relieving pressure on the Southampton back four last term – only two midfielders made more tackles than the Frenchman (79) during the 2014-15 campaign; Nemanja Matic (101) and George Boyd (83), who both managed ten more appearances than the new United man.
One look at Clasie’s statistics bodes well, though. The Dutchman boasts a similar tackle-per-appearance ratio, whilst a total of 75 in 32 appearances was bettered by only five midfielders in the Premier League last season. In addition, he is also a fantastic reader of the game – a tally of 70 interceptions in 2014/15 was seven more than Schneiderlin and would have placed him seventh amongst midfielders in the top flight. Given that he stands 1.69 metres tall to Schneiderlin’s 1.8 metres, though, Clasie may struggle in the air – he won just 27% of his headed duels in the season gone by, compared to the Frenchman’s 47% success rate, which suggests he could toil against sides that prefer a more direct style of play.
Similarly to last season, Koeman’s side have been handed some excellent opening fixtures which hold promise for their defensive potential. With Clasie’s screening presence in front of the back-four, those eyeing up the likes of Maarten Stekelenburg and Cedric Soares (both 5.0 in FPL) will be hoping to take advantage of a schedule which sees the Saints go head-to-head with just three of last year’s top eight in the opening 13 Gameweeks.
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