Ronald Koeman has been sent a very public nudge from one of Dutch football’s most recognisable voices. In his column for Algemeen Dagblad, Hugo Borst calls on the national coach to do something nobody has ever seriously done before: hand a first Oranje cap to 35‑year‑old Bryan Linssen.
Not as a sentimental gesture. As a footballing decision.
A late-career surge in Nijmegen
Linssen is driving NEC’s surprise charge up the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie table, with the Nijmegen club sitting third and punching well above their financial weight. At an age when most forwards are winding down, he is accelerating.
“At NEC, there is a 35-year-old footballer we are all fond of: Bryan Linssen. He is getting better and better,” Borst writes, using the club’s form as the backdrop for his plea. The message is simple: if you’re good enough, you’re young enough.
Linssen has never lived in the rarefied air of Europe’s elite clubs. His biggest stage came at Feyenoord, not in the Champions League latter stages or one of the continent’s superpowers. Borst doesn’t deny that. He leans into it – and then brushes it aside.
Linssen, he argues, would still improve the Dutch squad.
“Rare” qualities in Oranje
Borst focuses on the one thing coaches crave but can’t manufacture: profile. Linssen, he says, brings something the current Oranje pool lacks.
“Linssen isn’t in a league of his own, but his statistics are good and he has depth to his game, which is rare in the Oranje.” Not just numbers on a spreadsheet, but the way he moves, the runs he makes, the constant threat in behind.
“Linssen scores regularly,” Borst continues, before widening the lens beyond goals. “He also has an extremely strong work ethic.”
That work ethic is painted almost as a weapon. The description is vivid: “The man is always fit, chases down defenders and strikes fear into the hearts of goalkeepers. Linssen doesn’t have an ounce of fat on him, but is a mass of muscle.”
It’s the portrait of a forward who never leaves centre-backs alone, who presses, harries, and keeps the tempo high. The type of player who can change the tone of a match in 10 frantic minutes.
The Weghorst comparison
To sharpen his argument, Borst places Linssen alongside a familiar reference point: Wout Weghorst. The current Oranje striker has become a symbol of a certain type of Dutch centre-forward – tall, abrasive, direct.
Borst goes a step further. He calls Linssen “a better forward in every respect.”
On the pitch and off it.
“He’s amiable, cheerful and sociable. Pretty much everything Weghorst lacks.” The contrast is blunt, almost mischievous, but it underlines Borst’s belief that Linssen would not only bring energy in games, but harmony in camp.
Then there’s the aerial game, usually Weghorst’s territory. Borst doesn’t back down there either. “What’s more, Linssen is the better header. He reaches higher than Weghorst, who’s not half bad in my book either.”
The compliment to Weghorst feels almost like a brief pause for politeness before the punchline lands.
A direct appeal to Koeman
This is not a vague musing about form players or a generalised call to “reward performances.” Borst pins a name to the idea and a coach to the decision.
His column closes with a clear, almost conversational appeal to Zeist: “But if we’re going to be sociable, Koeman: do give Bryan Linssen a thought.”
NEC’s veteran forward has spent his career outside the glamour bubble, thriving in the hard yards of Dutch football. Now, with his club flying and his own form drawing national attention, the question lands squarely at Koeman’s door.
Is there room in Oranje for a 35-year-old latecomer who refuses to slow down?
