Total football or total randomness: Dutch team replace injured playmaker with reliable full-back

Borussia Dortmund defender Ian Maatsen has been called up to the Netherlands squad as a last-minute replacement for injured midfielder Frenkie de Jong.

The Oranje boss Ronald Koeman confirmed after Monday night's 4-0 win in a friendly against Iceland that the Barcelona playmaker De Jong would not recover in time from an ankle injury to play any part in the EURO 2024 in Germany, not even in the knockout phase.

Interestingly enough, Maatsen was on holiday in Greece on Monday when he was told to fly back and prepare for the tournament, less than a week before the Dutch take on Poland in Hamburg in their opening match.

Previously, the 22-year-old Maatsen was one of four players to be dropped from Koeman's 30-man provisional squad when the line-up was finalised two weeks ago.

"Frenkie de Jong has a history with this injury so we have to think about his health. His club decided to take risks there and this is the price we now have to pay for it," said disappointed Koeman, Barca's ex-coach.

"We found out today in the middle of the afternoon. We were very optimistic, we really hoped to have De Jong in the last game of the group stage. But the best thing is to do without it."

Koeman is also under serious danger of losing another midfielder, Teun Koopmeiners, as he suffered a groin strain during the warm-up for the match against Iceland.

"It doesn't look good," he said. "But maybe it'll go our way this time. We'll do some tests and then we'll know," concluded Koeman.