Man City, Arsenal monitoring ‘master of everything’ forward and son of a Dutch legend

Premier League title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal have reportedly stepped up their interest in signing exciting AZ Alkmaar winger Ruben van Bommel.

The 20-year-old  is the son of Dutch legend Mark van Bommel, who was a world-class defensive midfielder in his day and won 79 caps for his country as well starting in the 2010 World Cup final loss to Spain.

In a complete chalk and cheese comparison, Van Bommel junior is a technical attacking player who tends to play on the left wing and cut in on his favoured right.

Van Bommel is attracting plenty of interest after an outstanding start to the new season in which he has scored six times and has three assists in eight games in all competitions.

Indeed, in his last four outings he has notched four times and laid on a further two for his teammates, leaving City, Arsenal and Newcastle to all show an interest – to name but a few.

That’s according to TBR Football, who state that both City and the Gunners have had Van Bommel on their radar for a couple of years now as they weigh up the possiblity of a deal.

Van Bommel, who has made 10 appearances for the Netherlands’ Under-21 side scoring four goals, is currently under contract with AZ until 2027.

That leaves AZ in a strong position if clubs do indeed come calling for the talented attacker, although there is no mention about what sort of price they are looking for within the report.

Van Hooijdonk raves over ‘incredible’ Van Bommel

Dutch pundit Pierre van Hooijdonk, who also amassed 46 caps for his country, is certainly a fan of the player and waxed lyrical about his progress earlier in the year.

After watching Van Bommel score two goals against Ajax back in February, van Hooijdonk told sportnieuws: “He’s just an incredibly good player.

“I think he’ll end up as a centre forward. He’s a master of everything; he’s fast, has finesse in his finishing.

“Last year in the KKD at MVV I saw him score a lot of goals. There were chips, shots and headers among them.

“He’s still very young and is still developing. He’ll continue to do that from the left for a while, but I think he’ll eventually move to the centre.”

Wright takes Haaland to task over Gabriel incident

In other City and Arsenal news, Gunners legend Ian Wright has blasted Erling Haaland after the City striker was seen throwing the ball at Gabriel’s head during the huge clash between the title rivals.

Reacting to the draw, Wright spoke about Trossard’s red card and slammed Haaland’s actions.

“I felt like I needed to put something out there. It’s been bothering me,” he said on Instagram.

“The Trossard sending off, of course, in the moment you’re frustrated, it’s 2-1, you’re thinking, ‘yes, we’ve got them’, and then you get sent off for something that, let’s face it, it’s ******* foolishness.

“But you know what really boiled me up properly? Haaland’s coward’s move.”

Wright went on to heavily criticise the prolific City attacker as the tension between the two clubs grew exponentially during and after that game.

IN FOCUS – Everything you need to know about Ruben van Bommel

• • Van Bommel was born in Dutch town Meerssen in 2004. His father is former Netherlands international Mark van Bommel, who played for PSV at the time.
  • Ruben, who unlike his father is a winger, played in the PSV academy between 2013 and 2020.
  • He then joined MVV and spent two years in their youth system before scoring 15 goals from 31 games in the Dutch second tier in the 2022-23 season.
  • In December 2022, one Dutch pundit cautiously compared him to Angel Di Maria – while Van Bommel prefers to use his right foot, as opposed to the left-footed Argentine, both can be deployed as inverted wingers.
  • AZ lifted him up to the Eredivisie in July 2023 and he scored six goals in his debut season with them.
    Internationally, Van Bommel made his debut for the Dutch U21 team in November 2023, just half a year after debuting for the U20s.
  • So far this season, he has scored a brace on his first appearance for AZ’s reserves in the Dutch second division, and two goals from six Eredivisie appearances for the first team, as well as a brace on his Europa League debut.