Ian Maatsen’s summer went from luxurious surroundings to hope and then frustration all in the space of a few weeks.
The Dutchman has encountered a rollercoaster 12 months which saw him go from Chelsea outcast to Champions League finalist.
The full-back spent the second half of the season on loan at Borussia Dortmund, playing a key role in the Bundesliga side’s surge to the final at Wembley last month.
His move to Germany also saw him sign a new deal at Stamford Bridge but high-level performances were enough to put himself firmly in the shop window.
He was initially left out of the Netherlands’ Euro 2024 squad and like most players do during the off season, he opted to spend some time relaxing in the sun before reporting for pre-season.
The 22-year-old whisked his partner away to Greece for some well-earned down time on a plush Hermes Yacht worth a whopping half a billion pounds.
He took to social media to share some very envious pictures of his surroundings but things were about to drastically change for him.
Frenkie de Jong’s failure to recover from injury saw the Barcelona man withdraw from Ronald Koeman’s squad with Maatsen subsequently called up for the tournament in Germany.
It handed Maatsen the opportunity to continue his impressive campaign with his stock beginning to rise.
But hope quickly turned to disappointment as Maatsen was left in the shadow of first-choice full-back Denzel Dumfries.
The Inter right-back started five of the Netherlands’ six games at Euro 2024 with Feyenoord’s Lutsharel Geertruida preferred to Maatsen for the 3-2 group stage defeat to Austria.
Following the Netherlands’ semi-final defeat to England on Wednesday, Maatsen ended the Euro 2024 with zero minutes of game time – the same amount he would have accrued had he remained on the yacht.
But things appear to be on the up for the full-back having secured a permanent move to Aston Villa this summer and a return to the Champions League for a second-successive season.
Maatsen penned a six-year contract with the Midlands club for a fee believed to be in excess of £35million and now has the opportunity to continue basking in the sun before joining up with his new teammates.
News Summary:
- Ian Maatsen left half billion pound yacht with girlfriend to play ZERO Euro 2024 minutes
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