Bournemouth can be the home that drifter Justin Kluivert has been looking for… | OneFootball

New Bournemouth signing Justin Kluivert in action for Valencia at the Mestalla.

Justin Kluivert has played in Holland, Italy, Germany, France and Spain. Now he finds himself in England with Bournemouth where Johnny Nic reckons he might finally settle into his groove.

Here’s ‘What’s So Great About…’ the one-time next-big-thing yet to fulfil his potential…

Who’s this then? Justin Dean Kluivert is a 5’7”, 24-year-old Amsterdam-born Dutchman who has just signed for Bournemouth. The son of that rather good, if moody, party boy, Patrick Kluivert, and grandson of former Surinamese football player Kenneth Kluivert, he began his career at Ajax, coming through the youth team, breaking into the first team in 2016-17, playing 20 games and scoring a couple of goals and getting a Europa League runners-up medal. He was hailed as one of the next grand poobahs of Dutch football, possibly a little too early.

The 2017-18 campaign was his breakthrough season, playing 36 games, scoring 11 times which is still his highest scoring season.

This good form made Roma sit up and beg for his signature in return for 18.75million euros. He became their youngest Champions League scorer but only scored nine goals for them across two seasons and 69 games. This was probably because he’d been played wider on the left and on the right as well and explains why he made 10 assists for them. Even so, they weren’t happy.

So he was shipped out on loan to RB Leipzig for the 2020-21 campaign making 27 Bundesliga appearances, again splitting his shifts between the left and right wings, but with only four goals and a single assist, he returned to Roma and was sent out on loan once more for a season in France at Nice. This was a more successful campaign as he notched up six goals and six assists and got a runners-up medal in the cup. Hurrah!

Last season saw him on loan again, this time in Spain at Valencia where his performances drew a lot of praise with eight goals and two assists, he benefited from finding himself more centrally, even playing centre-forward for three games, and notching a goal.

He cost the Cherries around £10million, which is, in real terms, almost free when you’ve been handed £150 million of the Premier League’s money.

In 2018 he made his full international debut with two games under Ronald Koeman but hasn’t had a sniff since.

Why the love? There is a sense that this was a great youth player who hasn’t quite consistently settled into his senior career and therefore still has great unfulfilled potential. This isn’t surprising when you consider Bournemouth will be his sixth club in seven seasons. He’s signed a long-term contract so will be looking to get a long run in the first-team in order to hit a groove.

It is not hard to see what he offers. He’s got pace, seems very good technically and with 219 games in five different countries under his belt, he isn’t short of experience and is still just 24.

So why isn’t he an established international? Why hasn’t he played more than two seasons for the same club?  Aged 18 he was being touted as The Next Big Thing all across Europe. He was fast, tricky, direct and skilful and tearing up the Eredivisie.

He has attracted criticism for a poor pass completion for a winger, being nothing special in progressive carries and dribbles completed. He is below average for touches in the opposition’s box and isn’t especially deadly in front of goal.

Having watched a lot of him, a couple of things seem to be going on. First, he seems to be one of those players that if his first couple of surging runs don’t come off, he loses a bit of bravery. It is a very exposed position on the wing and it’s easy to get isolated if the ball goes through the middle. He also seems to drift in some games, as though losing his concentration, which might explain the less-than-stellar pass completion.

But when he’s on it, he’s really on it. At 5’7” he’s never going to play a physical game, though he is quite a chunky bird, but he isn’t short of technical skill and that must be why Andoni Iraola has bought him. That and the pace. At Rayo Vallecano ,Iraola built a reputation of making a financially inferior club punch above its weight. Journalist Sid Lowe calls him ‘the master of organised chaos’. He is charged with building the Cherries a new identity with a style that has been described as ‘everything all the time’. Sounds exciting to me.

Three great clips I like him playing inside more than out wide…

Definitely worth getting excited about…

Getting his Roma gig on…

Future days It would appear that Kluivert will be given licence and encouragement to play fast, direct, attacking football. In other words, to do the things that he does very well and not to bother with the things he doesn’t do very well.

This might psychologically suit him very well. He doesn’t look like the sort of player you’d want to grind out a draw, he looks like the cutting edge of a sword you want to wield mightily.

He’s playing for a very good coach who knows how to turn a small club into one that can take on far bigger teams. So in that regard, he’s a perfect fit on the south coast.

That said, at approx £10million, he’s hardly an expensive gamble. But he is nonetheless a gamble. It’s easy to see him being on the ‘buys of the season’ lists come next May. However, it’s equally easy to see him on the bench, not trusted to bring his A-game consistently.

The club has shown faith in him by dishing out a long contract, so they and the manager must be confident he can settle and become an established first team player. One thing is sure, Bournemouth will be a fascinating adventure this season and rarely, if ever, dull. Let’s hope Kluivert is a big part of that. There’s certainly no doubting his talent.