'Book is closed' - Ex Spurs man slammed by international manager for £21m transfer

Former Tottenham Hotspur winger Steven Bergwijn has come under fire from Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman for completing a £21 million transfer to Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad this week.

The 26-year-old, who made two appearances for the Netherlands at Euro 2024 this summer, has swapped Ajax for the Middle East after two years with the Dutch side. Bergwijn made the move to Ajax from Spurs for £26 million in a move that broke the record for the most expensive transfer in Eredivisie history in 2022.

During his time at Tottenham Hotspur, the winger was part of the Carabao Cup runners-up side of 2021 and scored eight goals for the club.

Since then, the player made 80 appearances for Ajax and registered 29 goals and 12 assists in those outings. Now the forward has moved out of Europe and that transfer has come under heavy criticism from Koeman, who appears to have dismissed Bergwijn from his nation's side due to a lack of 'ambition'.

Koeman said: "The book is basically closed to him. He knows what I think about this. I have never been in that situation, because I could go to Barcelona. He could have stayed at Ajax, that's not bad, is it? You have to respect that choice, but personally I wouldn't [have moved].

"Georginio Wijnaldum once went that way because he had a problem at Paris Saint-Germain. He could only go to that country to play football until January. In Bergwijn's case is that he goes at the age of 26, sporting ambition does not prevail. Not everyone thinks, fortunately, the same way. I think when you are 26 the main ambition should be sporting and not financial, but those are choices players make."

Bergwijn will play under the management of Laurent Blanc at Al Ittihad. His teammates will include high profile names who have also made the move to Saudi such as Karim Benzema, N'golo Kante, Fabinho and Mousa Diaby.