Friday 8 May 2015 16:50, UK
After Manchester United agreed a deal for PSV Eindhoven forward Memphis Depay, we look at how previous top scorers in the Eredivisie have fared in the Premier League.
United are reportedly set to pay a fee in the region of £25million for Depay, who has scored 21 goals in 28 games for the Dutch champions this season.
The 21-year-old also shone for the Netherlands at the World Cup – but will he be a success in England? A number of players have topped the Eredivise scoring charts before moving to the Premier League – and their success has been mixed…
HITS
Luis Suarez, Liverpool (110 Premier League games, 69 goals)
Whether it be for his sensational scoring feats or his well-documented disciplinary issues, Suarez was never far away from the headlines during his whirlwind stint at Anfield. The Uruguayan joined Liverpool in January 2011 having scored 91 goals in 139 Eredivisie games with Ajax and Groningen.
Suarez’s talent was obvious from the outset at Liverpool, and he went from strength to strength during his three-and-a-half year stay. After smashing 31 goals in 33 Premier League games in 2013/14, Barcelona paid £75million to take him to the Nou Camp, where he has formed a deadly front three with Lionel Messi and Neymar.
For all the controversy during his time at Anfield, Suarez was an undoubted success on our shores.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, Manchester United (150 Premier League games, 95 goals)
Van Nistelrooy was the Eredivisie’s top scorer for back-to-back seasons between 1998 and 2000, hitting 60 goals in 57 appearances for PSV and convincing Manchester United to pay £18.5million for his signature in 2001.
He proved to be one of their most successful strikers of the Premier League era, scoring 95 goals in 150 appearances at a rate of 0.63 per game. Van Nistelrooy only had one Premier League title and one FA Cup to show for his five-year stay at Old Trafford before joining Real Madrid in 2006, but his individual contribution was outstanding.
The Dutchman left United under a cloud, but his scoring record speaks for itself.
Wilfried Bony, Swansea and Manchester City (61 Premier League games, 27 goals)
Bony has not yet been given much of a chance at Manchester City since his big money January transfer, but he was a big success story for Swansea.
The Ivorian top scored with 31 goals for Vitesse in his final season in the Eredivisie, and he quickly became one of the Premier League’s top strikers after his arrival in 2013, scoring 26 goals in 60 appearances for the Swans.
It remains to be seen whether Bony will prove a successful signing for City, but he certainly had no trouble adapting to the Premier League.
MISSES
Afonso Alves, Middlesbrough (42 Premier League games, 10 goals)
Middlesbrough thought they had pulled off a coup when they signed Alves from Heerenveen for a club record £12million fee in January 2008, but the Brazilian striker failed to live up to the hype.
Alves scored 45 goals in 39 games in the Eredivisie – including one seven-goal haul in a 9-0 win against Heracles – but he found Premier League defences rather less hospitable.
A hat-trick in an 8-1 win over Manchester City in May 2008 was a rare bright spot in an otherwise miserable stay at the Riverside, and he eventually bid goodbye to the Premier League with a move to Qatari side Al-Sadd.
Mateja Kezman, Chelsea (24 Premier League games, four goals)
Kezman was one of a number of new signings to arrive with Jose Mourinho at Chelsea in the summer of 2004. The Serbian striker had scored 31 goals for PSV the previous season, but he flopped in the Premier League.
Kezman finished the season with just four goals in 24 appearances, and his Premier League winners’ medal couldn’t mask his obvious shortcomings.
He was sold to Atletico Madrid in 2005 before embarking on a colourful career in Turkey, France, China and Russia.
Jozy Altidore, Hull and Sunderland (70 league games, two goals)
Altidore wasn’t actually a top scorer in the Eredivisie, but as a striker who shone in the Netherlands and flopped in the Premier League, he also merits a mention.
The USA international only scored once during a season on loan at Hull City in 2009/10, but 39 goals in 67 appearances for AZ Alkmaar convinced Sunderland to give him another chance in 2013.
Altidore only added one further goal to his Premier League tally, meaning he scored at a rate of once every 35 games in the Premier League before he moved to MLS outfit Toronto FC as part of Sunderland’s deal for Jermain Defoe.
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