Analyst claims Dutch forward should be a Manchester City or Barcelona superstar | OneFootball

Football analyst Johan Derksen has made his feelings clear on the career of Dutch forward Mohamed Ihattaren, speaking during a recent report.

Manchester City have recruited a whole host of promising young talents in recent years with the goal of bringing in profiles that could develop into first-team stars whilst also bringing down the average age of the previously veteran squad.

Recent signatures secured feature the likes of Nico Gonzalez, Rayan Cherki and James Trafford – all very gifted youngsters in a range of positions and under the age of 24 with plenty of room to develop and improve under Pep Guardiola’s tutelage.

For many years, the focus has been bringing in impressive youngsters to help them develop into their full potential. A very pertinent and recent example of this would be former No.19 Julian Alvarez; signed from River Plate for a £14 million fee.

Now, one outspoken analyst believes former Juventus man, Ihattaren – once dubbed one of the hottest prospects in the Dutch game – should have been among the youngsters playing in sky blue.

Speaking to Voetbal Primeur, as translated and relayed by SportWitness, Johan Derksen has offered extreme disappointment with Fortuna Sittard midfielder Mohamed Ihattaren, expressing that he believes the versatile forward has wasted his potential.

“A very slim boy with a graceful gait and explosive legs,” explained the analyst. “He would have actually been playing at the absolute top at 20. He was an incredible talent, something we’d rarely seen in the Netherlands.

“Within a year, he’s deteriorated to such an extent that he no longer retains any of the top athlete he once was. So far, he’s simply failed. He’s had every opportunity in the world, and he hasn’t capitalised on any of them.”

“He should have been a millionaire and played for Barcelona or Manchester City,” he continued. “But honestly, I’ve given up hope that anything will come of it.”

Derksen is anything but optimistic about his future, as he went on to say, “That guy has blown his chances so often that I can hardly imagine him taking this one. He has to realise that if this fails, it’s all over.”

Once hailed as one of the most promising talents in Dutch football while rising through the ranks of the PSV Eindhoven academy, he made his senior league debut at just 16 whilst securing his first continental minutes in the Europa League at just 17 years of age.

Ihattaren made 74 appearances for his boyhood club, registering 10 goals and nine assists before moving to Juventus in 2021, but since then he has had a very tough time, eventually moving to Turkey with Samsunspor on a free transfer in 2023.

He faced release a mere month later and was brought in by Slavia Praha to try and reignite his career. Unfortunately, this did not work out, becoming a free agent yet again in March of last year.

By September he returned to the country in which his career got off to such a promising start, travelling back to the Netherlands to play for RKC Waalwijk before joining Fortuna Sittard this year.