Spanish press praise AZ Alkmaar’s Smit: ‘After Cruyff, Rijkaard and Robben, the latest total footballer’ | OneFootball

Mundo Deportivo are waxing lyrical about AZ Alkmaar‘s star 18-year-old Kees Smit and have even labelled him a “superior talent”, report Voetbal Primeur.

The Spanish newspaper see Smit as the latest name from “the world’s biggest talent factory” following Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, and Arjen Robben – to lead to the description of a “total footballer”.

“The AZ Alkmaar player is one of the biggest promises in Dutch football. (…) “He has a superior individual technical quality, which makes him stand out in dribbling and giving long passes. But besides the fact that he has a very nice feeling in his foot, his physical performances make him stand out against footballers who are twice his age.”

While the AZ midfielder impressed by scoring and providing an assist in his Europa League debut against Fenerbahçe, he still has to decide what his position is, as the paper continued:

“In addition to showing that he has a lot of defensive intelligence, he also shows that he has a nose for goal. At the same time, his physical development ensures that his technical qualities are increasingly being expressed.”

To conclude, the Spanish outlet pointed to the wider league as a suitable landscape for the midfielder to develop his skill set further:

“The Eredivisie promotes the growth of talents and is a breeding ground for great footballers. (It’s) A great place for a player like Kees Smit to develop further.”

GBeNeFN | Max Bradfield