The 10 Netherlands players to explode in the last six months

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 6 Apr 2022 10:25 BST
• 3 min read

Mees Hilgers is the most improved Netherlands player over the last six months, according to SciSports.

Using in-game data to calculate the performance of every player eligible to play for the Netherlands, the FC Twente centre-back has enjoyed the greatest improvement, statistically.

Hilgers made his Eredivisie debut in the 2020/21 season, but it is his exposure to regular first-team football in the current campaign that has led to his significant boost in SciSports skill level.

At just 20, he is emerging as a key player for Twente and has started 18 games in the Dutch top flight in 2021/22. He is over 6ft so can prosper in the physical side of the game, but he is very much in the mould of a modern defender as he likes to contribute to playing out from the back.

We stick with FC Twente for the second name on our list, Daan Rots. A pacey winger, Rots has also benefited from featuring for the first-team in what is the first major top-flight season of his professional career.

In third is Bert Esselink. As a youngster, he made the brave choice to move abroad to join his first senior club, Cypriot outfit PAEEK. In January of 2022, he secured the first major transfer of his care, joining APOEL.

Undoubtedly the most famous player on our list is Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk. The boost in his SciSkill level will most likely be due to his return to the fold as a regular key player for the Reds, having spent most of the 2020/21 season out with injury.

He is, of course, also in wonderful form for Liverpool.

Walid Ould-Chikh is at number five. He may not be a prolific goalscorer yet, but his talent is promising at FC Volendam.

Rounding out the top 10 are Mark Flekken (Freiburg), Oussama El Azzouzi (Emmen), Jurrien Timber (Ajax), Bjorn Meijer (Groningen) and Remko Pasveer (Ajax).

How is the SciSkill ranking calculated?

Over the course of a season, there are players who will enjoy increasingly poor performances and increasingly positive performances.

FootballTransfers, in partnership with SciSports, has determined 10 Dutch players over the last six months whose performances have improved to a higher degree than anyone else.

SciSports explains how our development ratings are gathered:

“Among others, a positive development could be boosted by more playing time, playing time on a higher level or better performances on the pitch.

“A negative development could be due to the player being active on a lower level than he used to play, bad performances or the fact that he does not play that often as he used to do.

“A SciSkill Development of 0.0 could indicate that a player is performing exactly like our algorithm expects him to do. Another reason could be inactivity (e.g. a long-term injury or suspension).”

It should be noted that vast improvement does not necessarily mean that a player was underperforming previously.