‘Who?’ Ronald Koeman questioned on decision to take Wout Weghorst over Burnley striker | OneFootball

Ronald Koeman spent this afternoon answering questions from Dutch media on his squad for the World Cup. Amongst those included was Wout Weghorst, which caused some chatter amongst the media and fans. Weghorst has only scored nine goals in 34 games for Ajax this season and has only hit double digit goals in a season once over the past seven seasons. Yet Koeman and the Dutch side always seems to get the best out of Weghorst, although at 33 his best years may well be behind him.

There was quite a stir at the press conference when one journalist asked Koeman about another striker who had scored 11 goals in the Premier League, to which the Dutch head coach replied with ‘who?’. The striker was Zian Flemming of Burnley, another physical forward like Weghorst who is younger and has a better goal scoring record this season. Koeman then went on to defend his decision to pick the Ajax striker over Burnley’s 27-year-old forward.

Flemming has not been called up for the Dutch national team once during his career. The forward left the Eredivisie in 2022 to join Millwall, where he scored 23 goals in 92 games. In 2024 he joined Burnley, helping them win promotion to the Premier League with 14 goals in 37 games. This season Burnley were relegated, with Flemming scoring 12 goals in 32 games, 11 of which came in the Premier League.

Many have now begun to question whether or not Koeman has even seen Flemming play for Burnley.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson