Frenkie de Jong |

The Dutch side has reportedly targeted Bayern Munich youngster Meritan Shabani as a replacement for the Barcelona bound Frenkie De Jong. De Jong completed a £65m move to Barcelona this past week writes Will Godley.

Image result for meritan shabani — Shabani has emerged as a target for Ajax

German newspaper Bild have reported that Shabani is seen by the Dutch club as De Jong’s successor.

Shabani is a Munich-native, having joined Bayern when he was seven years old. He is currently contracted to the club until 2020 and trained with the first-team in Doha during the German winter break.

The 19-year old is seen as one of the most promising youth prospects at Bayern Munich and has made three first-team appearances.

However, with so many talented midfielders currently at Bayern, opportunities will be hard to come by for Shabani unless he moves away.

Ajax appears to be very interested in the player and should now step up their interest, after the sale of De Jong earlier this week. The Eredivisie side is keen to integrate Shabani into head coach Erik ten Hag’s team during the second half of the season and hope to make a deal before the January window closes.

Bayern may consider inserting a buy-back clause or a first-option clause into the player’s contract, should he leave the Allianz Arena.

It is no secret that Bayern is interested in Ajax’s 19-year old centre-back, Matthijs de Ligt. With that mind, they may also consider giving Ajax favourable terms in the Shabani deal to get an upper hand in future negotiations for De Ligt. Any advantage would be favourable, considering the size of the club’s competing alongside them for the signature of the Dutch youngster.

Shabani is most comfortable in an advanced midfield role. His skill set has allowed him to move further forward during his career and he is capable of playing on either wing. However, he is more confident operating centrally.

He was promoted to the Bayern U19 squad at the age of 16. Shabani’s rapid rise continued from there, moving up to the Bayern II team, before earning a first-team call-up.

Jupp Heynckes gave the youngster his first-team debut in the Bundesliga against Eintracht Frankfurt last season, after Bayern had already won the league title.

Since then, his confidence has grown. He featured prominently in the club’s pre-season tour of the US and made another Bundesliga appearance against Frankfurt this season. He has also appeared in the DFB Pokal.

Shabani is a dual national, who is eligible to represent Germany and Kosovo at international level. Although, Germany appears to be winning the race for his services. He is currently an U20 international for the Germans.

The midfielder’s statistics are very impressive. For the Bayern U19 side, Shabani scored 15 goals and made 12 assists in 69 appearances. For the Bayern II team, he has scored 9 goals and made 4 assists in 19 appearances – including 3 goals in 4 UEFA Youth League games.

Shabani has good ball control and likes to run at defenders. That, combined with his impressive goals tally, makes him a real attacking threat.

Will Godley

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With the January transfer window in full force, Steve Davies is on hand to guide you through some of the notable Dutch-based players and Dutchmen abroad who may soon be on the move.

The potential transfer receiving the most column inches ahead of the January transfer window involves Ajax’s Frenkie de Jong and while the club are well stocked in terms of replacements should either the 21-year-old Dutch international or Ajax’s Moroccan midfield maestro, Hakim Ziyech opt to make their move, with the club going strong on all fronts this term, Erik ten Hag will hope the major pieces of his Ajax puzzle remain in place until the summer.

However, one Ajax midfielder who does appear set for a temporary change of scenery is highly regarded 20-year-old, Danny de Wit with the Dutch U21 international in line for a loan move to another Eredivisie outfit to gain some much-needed top-flight experience ahead of playing a more prominent role in ten Hag’s plans next term.

In Eindhoven, having fallen out of favour with coach, Mark van Bommel, and with just seven appearances in all competitions to his name this term, the forgotten Bart Ramselaar could do with a switch, be it temporary or permanent.

Meanwhile, any hopes the reigning Eredivisie champions may have harboured of recapturing the influential Marco van Ginkel on loan once more have been dashed by the news the Chelsea midfielder will remain sidelined with a knee problem until next season.

However, there has been some encouraging news on the recruitment front for the Eredivisie pacesetters who, along with Groningen, are widely reported to have veteran Dutch international Arjen Robben in their sights. The 34-year-old’s current deal at Bayern Munich is set to expire in the summer and will not be renewed.

Over at Feyenoord, despite having a deal that runs until mid-2020, with just six appearances in all competitions this season, Peruvian international Renato Tapia appears to be the odd man out in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s midfield equation and may look for pastures new in January.

Elsewhere, with fifteen goals and five assists in all competition already this term, the form of ADO Den Haag’s Abdenasser El Khayati is turning heads and despite his current deal in The Hague running until mid-2020, the 29-year-old may well find himself in demand in January.

Image result for arber zeneli — Cash-strapped Heerenveen will cash in on Zeneli this month

Another midfielder to have caught the eye over the course of the first half of the season in the Dutch top flight has been Heerenveen’s Kosovar international, Arbër Zeneli. With four goals and ten assists in just eighteen appearances in all competitions and a contract that is set to expire in the summer, expect the 23-year-old’s signature to be much sought after during this transfer window.

Finally, another player with a rapidly expiring contract that is worth keeping tabs on during the coming transfer window is Heracles’ 24-year-old Swedish international Kristoffer Peterson. With ten goals and two assists to his name in his nineteen appearances in all competitions this term, the Swede could well be on the move in January.