According to Spanish newspaper “AS”<\/a>, speculation over the future of AZ Alkmaar’s chief creator has bubbled away ever since, and particularly since last summer.\n<\/p>\nAtletico Madrid chased him in the winter window, only for AZ’s board to shut the door. That refusal dashed the hopes of the Rojiblancos’ coaching staff, who saw him as a future fixture on the European stage.\n<\/p>\n
Smit had cemented his place as a key man at AZ after his heroics at Valdebebas, and every sign pointed to a spot in Koeman’s World Cup squad. Yet the former Barcelona boss leaned on more experienced heads. Hato aside, the rest of his players were all over 24.\n<\/p>\n
Xavi Hernandez has since taken the reins of the national side, at a time when few in the Netherlands could fathom why Smit was left out of the final 26-man squad for the World Cup in America.\n<\/p>\n
Working alongside agent Jorge Mendes, the young AZ man is weighing up his next destination amid growing interest from the Premier League.\n<\/p>\n
The English offers have not swayed him. A two-footed midfielder who breaks lines with clever combination play, Smit would rather move to Spain.\n<\/p>\n
Three Spanish clubs are working behind the scenes to varying degrees: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona. The Catalans, for now, are focused entirely on getting the Rodri deal over the line.\n<\/p>\n
Atletico have already landed Morten Hjulmand, a player cut from similar cloth to Smit despite a more defensive bent, while Real Madrid regard their squad as settled for now, pending any exit.\n<\/p>\n
Smit stays within Real’s circle of interest alongside other names, though Valdebebas has yet to make any official move for the Dutchman.\n<\/p>\n
Jose Mourinho, by contrast, is hunting for players in the Bernardo Silva mould, and the young Smit shifts across every central midfield role much like the Portuguese star.\n<\/p>\n
Another season at AZ is not off the table. Smit would happily stay to keep developing and rack up minutes and responsibility, provided a deal is struck for a move in 2027-2028. That leaves every option open.\n<\/p>\n
His price could sit around 60 million euros, a figure a long way short of the 95 million euros Liverpool may pay to sign Wharton from Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kees Smit is on the radar of Europe’s elite. The 20-year-old AZ Alkmaar midfielder has forced his way…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[179,2413,92,85,82,83,265],"class_list":["post-71125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-atletico-madrid","tag-az-alkmaar","tag-barcelona","tag-laliga","tag-madrid","tag-real-madrid","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}