Telling Van den Berg ‘total package’ point made with Boro future uncertain
Rav van den Berg has ‘the total package’ according to a leading European scout who has tipped him to reach the top ahead of an uncertain summer for the defender at Middlesbrough.
Van den Berg, who is currently in Slovakia representing Netherlands’ under-21s at the European Championships, is the subject of plenty of interest this summer.
He played the full 90 minutes on Saturday evening as they won 1-0 against Portugal to advance to the semi-final. They’ll meet England and Hayden Hackney in that one.
After two years at Boro though, Van den Berg could move on before the end of the transfer window, with just two years remaining on his current Riverside deal. It means his value to the club without a new deal has likely peaked.
Interestingly, in a report from Dutch paper De Telegraaf about the country’s rising stars, Southampton’s former European scout Piet Buter admitted he’d picked up many positives in reports he’d compiled on the defender. Though no longer employed by the Saints, Buter is the co-founder and head scout of The Scouting Company who provide reports on players to clubs and agents on a freelance basis.
Identifying Boro’s young defensive star as a future Netherlands star, Buter said: “Van den Berg could definitely make it to the big Oranje, because he has the total package. He has a lot of pluses in my reports.” While not known who, if anyone, he’s provided his reports to, it’s a clear indication of the regard with which recruitment figures hold the Boro defender.
Van den Berg faces an uncertain future at Boro this summer, after two years with the club. He turned down offers from big clubs to move to the Riverside in the summer of 2023 in order to play regularly.
He quickly established himself and won the Player of the Year award in his first season before struggling to hit the same heights last term as injuries impacted his consistency.
Nevertheless, potential suitors are unlikely to be put off by that and will recognise his potential to grow further still. That said, Van den Berg recently admitted himself that he was in no rush to leave Boro this summer and would only do so for the right opportunity – with game-time still his number one priority.
He did admit that there had already been some serious interest in him expressed, though nothing will be likely to develop until after his return from the U21 Euros.
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