Antonio Conte is going to find it very hard to ignore Steven Bergwijn going on his latest exploits on the international stage. The hero back in November with a late goal and assist against Norway to help Netherlands seal their place at the 2022 World Cup, March's international break also proved to be a hugely successful one for the Tottenham man.
Opportunities in the Spurs first team have been hard to come by for the 24-year-old in recent months despite his incredible heroics in stoppage time at Leicester City back in January, with only one start from nine appearances in the league since then. Dejan Kulusevski's deadline day move from Juventus and subsequent success has limited the Dutchman's game time and unfortunately restricted him to a bit-part role.
On the pitch for a total of five minutes in his last three substitute appearances for the Lilywhites, the latest international break came at exactly the right time for the ex-PSV man to make his case to Conte ahead of the Premier League run-in. He did exactly that as Netherlands clinched a 4-2 victory over Denmark and recorded a 1-1 draw against Germany.
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Handed a start by Louis van Gaal against the Danes, Bergwijn opened the scoring 15 minutes in with a superb header from Daley Blind's cross. His second goal of the evening was even better as he wrapped up the victory for Oranje after Christian Eriksen's strike on his international comeback had made it 3-2 with just over 40 minutes remaining in the contest.
Collecting the ball down the left flank, the winger made his way into the area and checked inside before curling an unstoppable effort beyond Kasper Schmeichel into the far corner. It was Bergwijn at his very best and it was the finish of a player oozing in confidence.
Dropping down to the bench in their following fixture against Germany with Donyell Malen getting the nod up front, Bergwijn was introduced in the 58th minute and duly netted his fourth goal in three international appearances ten minutes later. With the ball falling kindly to him six yards from goal, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer stood absolutely no chance as the Spurs ace lashed the ball home high into the roof of the net.
Returning to Spurs in confident mood after last November's international break following such a mixed spell beforehand, Bergwijn's confidence will be sky high once again ahead of Tottenham's remaining nine games. However, he has quite the task on his hands trying to split up the attacking trio of Kulusevski, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane.
Speaking to the media after the game, the attacker was asked about his call-up to the Netherlands squad and what the future could hold for him. Amid talk of a return to his home country with Ajax in January, Bergwijn has said he will "see what happens in the summer" on his current situation.
"I don’t get to play much at the club. I am happy that the national coach has called me up, that’s not obvious [thing to do]," he said, as quoted by Algemeen Dagblad (via Sport Witness). "You don’t forget about football. But of course, you feel that you don’t play that much. It was nice to be here again. We have a good and fun group."
He added: "I wouldn’t know [whether form for the Netherlands can improve situation at club], we’ll see. Everyone wants to play of course. I have to keep my head up and work hard in training. Then we’ll see what happens in the summer."
In decent form at the minute in the Premier League with five victories from their last seven games, Spurs are in a promising position at present to kick on and seal the final Champions League place ahead of the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and West Ham. Key to that will be Conte having his squad firing on all cylinders between now and the final day away at Norwich City, with Bergwijn now in good form and confident mood at such a vital stage of the campaign.
Conte does appear to have settled on his strongest XI in recent weeks and it will be incredibly hard for Bergwijn to nudge his way in ahead of one of Kulusevski, Son or Kane. However, the head coach has made it clear in the past that he counts on his player and there are going to be times when he needs a moment of magic from somewhere to swing the game in Tottenham's favour.
Doing so at the King Power Stadium just over two months ago as Bergwijn helped the Lilywhites complete the most remarkable of comebacks against Leicester with barely any time left on the clock, don't be surprised if he has another big say in the race for fourth. Bergwijn's season may not have gone the way he initially planned so far but there's still plenty of time for him to end 2021/22 in style.
