Chelsea defender Ian Maatsen handed Netherlands call-up for Euro 2024 after major double injury blow
Chelsea defender Ian Maatsen has been handed a late call-up to the Netherlands squad for Euro 2024.
The Blues left-back has been drafted in by Dutch boss Ronald Koeman at the 11th hour after two major injury blows struck his squad in a matter of hours.
It first emerged late on Monday night that the Netherlands would be without Frenkie de Jong in Germany, with the Barcelona midfielder yet to recover from an ankle injury suffered back in March.
Confirmation then arrived on Tuesday morning that Atalanta midfielder Teun Koopmeiners had also withdrawn from the squad after suffering an unspecified injury during Tuesday’s 4-0 warm-up win over Iceland in Rotterdam.
The Netherlands have now called up Maatsen, with the Chelsea player to join up with the rest of the squad at their Euros training base in Wolfsburg on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old has been a regular for the Dutch at youth level and was called up to the senior squad for the first time last September, though has yet to earn his first cap.
He was named by Koeman in an initial 30-man provisional squad for the Euros last month, but was then cut from the final 26-man group along with Sparta Rotterdam goalkeeper Nick Olij, Feyenoord midfielder Quinten Timber and Atalanta’s Marten de Roon, with the Dutch seemingly well-stocked at left-back with the likes of Nathan Ake, Micky van de Ven and Daley Blind all able to play there.
The Netherlands, champions in 1988, are in Group D at the latest European Championship, beginning their campaign against Poland in Hamburg on Sunday, before facing France in a blockbuster clash in Leipzig on June 21 and Austria in Berlin on June 25.
Maatsen is expected to leave Chelsea on a permanent basis this summer, having helped Borussia Dortmund to reach the Champions League final at Wembley in a successful loan spell during the second half of the season.
The former Charlton, Coventry and Burnley loanee signed a new contract extension until 2026 before heading to Dortmund in January, with such a deal believed to include a release clause set at £35million.
Dortmund are understood to want to sign Maatsen permanently, though would need to match their club-record transfer fee to make it happen, with no first refusal or option to buy included in the initial loan agreement.
Any sale of Maatsen would represent 'pure profit' in Chelsea’s accounts, effectively considered an academy graduate in west London given that he joined the club as a youth player from PSV Eindhoven in 2018.
