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Saudi transfer ruins star's international future?

The manager of a top European nation has revealed he will no longer consider calling up a certain star due to his recent move to Saudi Arabia.

Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman has criticised Dutch star Steven Bergwijn after he joined Al Ittihad from Ajax Amsterdam in a deal worth a reported €25 million (R495 million) earlier this week. 

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Moreover. the former Barcelona head coach has indicated that the former Tottenham Hotspur star no longer has a future in the national team under his reign.

"Georginio Wijnaldum once went that way because he had a problem at Paris Saint-Germain," Koeman explained, according to ESPN.

"He could only go to that country to play football until January.

"In Bergwijn's case, it's that he goes at the age of 26, sporting ambition does not prevail. Not everyone thinks, fortunately, the same way.

"I think when you are 26, the main ambition should be sporting and not financial, but those are choices players make.

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"He could have stayed at Ajax, couldn't he? And I think they pay OK at Ajax too. But yes, it's his choice.

"I haven't been in that situation myself. I could go to Barcelona. I think if Bergwijn could have gone to Barcelona, he wouldn't have gone to Saudi Arabia either.

"The book is basically closed for him, though. He has not contacted me about this. I think he knows how I think about this."

Bergwijn, whose move was confirmed ahead of the Saudi transfer deadline on Monday night, will now play under ex-PSG coach Laurent Blanc and his new high-profile teammates N'Golo Kante, Karim Benzema, Fabinho, Houssem Aouar, and Moussa Diaby, among others.

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Bergwijn now looks unlikely to add to his eight goals and three assists in 35 appearances for the Netherlands as his foreseeable future with the team looks all but scuppered. He will miss Holland's UEFA Nations League matches against Bosnia Herzegovina and Germany in this international break.

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