Mats Wieffer is establishing himself as a mainstay at the heart of the Feyenoord midfield

As Feyenoord works on their first title defense in over half a decade, young Mats Wieffer is establishing himself as a mainstay at the heart of midfield for Arne Slot’s side. The 23-year-old Dutchman started about half of his side’s Eredivisie matches last season, but this term he has been in the starting XI for every single one so far.

The departure of Orkun Kökçü seems to have paved the way for Wieffer to become a key starter, and he has made the most of this opportunity. The ex-Excelsior man has stood out with his defensive work, consistently earning high ratings from our model for disrupting opposition moves as well as recovering a moving ball.

Wieffer’s qualities as a destroyer/ball-winning midfielder clearly are already very polished, and he seems to have good technical abilities on the ball too. If he keeps performing at this level for a full season at Feyenoord, he too could be on the way out soon.

By Neel Shelat