Ahead of tonight’s Europa League clash, it’s been suggested that the opposition may be without several first-team players.
Sky Sports reports that Jan-Arie van der Heijden, Nicolai Jorgensen, Jens Toornstra and Steven Berghuis are all doubtful for the fixture.
While Jorgensen and Berghuis would be big losses in an attacking sense, they have another highly capable operator who is fit and ready to go.
Leroy Fer.
Rangers must be wary of Feyenoord midfielder’s threat
Plenty will argue that the 29-year-old hasn’t quite fulfilled his potential as a player.
After all, he only has 11 caps for Holland, despite making his debut way back in 2010. Furthermore, his only major honour is winning the KNVB Cup with Feyenoord in 2008, during his first stint with the club.
However, on his day, he’s an extremely dangerous man to have in the opposition. He’s still rated at a hefty £5.4m by Transfermarkt and is a player whose threat Steven Gerrard will undoubtedly be keen to neutralise.
Fer isn’t prolific, his career stats tell you that [Soccerbase]. Yet, he popped up fairly regularly with goals during his time in England, especially at QPR. Furthermore, he netted twice in Europa League qualifying against Hapoel Beer Sheva and got off the mark in the Eredivisie with what proved a decisive penalty against Den Haag on Sunday.
He will look to create and get forward from central midfield and it’ll be up to the likes of Glen Kamara to stop him from fashioning space on the edge of the box.
Opposition manager Jaap Stam hasn’t got off to the best of starts on his return to Holland. Yet, even if he can’t call on some of his regulars against the Gers, he knows that in Fer, he has a player who possesses genuine quality in midfield.
If the Gers can limit the Dutch international’s influence on proceedings tonight, their chances will improve markedly.
