Steven Bergwijn has admitted that he wants to leave Tottenham Hotspur this summer in order to play regular football.
The 24-year-old Dutchman played 32 times for Spurs across the last campaign, scoring four goals, including two dramatic late goals at Leicester City, and laying on two assists. However, Bergwijn started just four Premier League games last season despite praise from both Antonio Conte and also Nuno Espirito Santo before him, and the winger often got just a handful of minutes from the bench late in matches.
Ajax attempted to sign Bergwijn in the January transfer window but Tottenham rebuffed their efforts with Conte stating that he wanted to keep the player, who joined Spurs from PSV Eindhoven in January 2020 in a £27m deal. Ajax are believed to be attempting again to bring the player back to the Netherlands.
READ MORE: Tottenham players preparing to experience gruelling Antonio Conte pre-season like no other
The Netherlands international has been in fine form for his country, scoring five goals in his past four matches for his country, including a crucial goal that helped send them to World Cup. After netting again this week with a long range effort against Belgium, Bergwijn admitted to the media while on international duty that he wants to leave Spurs this summer in order to play more regularly.
"Have I talked to [Ajax coach] Alfred Schreuder about my future? I'm at Oranje now and then we'll have a look. It would be nice if there was clarity soon. I just have to go play, but I want to leave Spurs now, that's for sure," he is quoted as saying by Dutch media outlet Algemeen Dagblad.
"Whether it is important that my new club plays in the Champions League? That's not even top priority. Though it would be nice. What's important is that I'm going to play."
On that rebuffed Ajax move in January, he added: "I wasn't allowed to leave Spurs in the winter and then I didn't have any problems. The last few months I was hardly looked after there. Now I want to play somewhere weekly.
"That could be [an option], yes, [a return to the Eredivisie]. It's about my situation now, that has to be different."
Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal has stated that he believes Bergwijn is too good to simply be warming Tottenham's bench and has compared him to former Chelsea and Bayern Munich star Arjen Robben.
"The comparison with Robben, I'm not there yet, I think, but I can get there, I feel that," said Bergwijn. "Confidence does a lot to a player. I get that with Oranje."
