Neither Bellingham nor Wirtz: this 23-year-old player is the best in Europe

FC Twente’s Sem Steijn scored again this Sunday as part of a 2-0 home win over RKC Waalwijk. The victory has pushed the side from Enschede into sixth in the top flight with the 23-year-old bagging almost 50% of his team’s goals this season.

Steijn has now found the net 21 times this season (with only four of these coming from the spot), a spectacular figure for a playmaker and one that none of the best in the world in that position can match with the Dutchman eclipsing the likes of Cole Palmer, Jamal Musiala or Oscar Sancet...

The FC Twente player is the league’s top scorer, despite playing behind the number 9. The player is lethal in picking up scraps but can also find the target from direct free kicks. With 21 goals across all competitions, he leads the way in Europe’s high profile leagues leading the likes of Musiala (15), Wirtz (15) or Cole Palmer (14).

Stats beater

Steijn’s xG (expected goals) in the Eredivisie is 10.93 and he has actually scored 18 in the league. That is to say, given the quality of his chances, he should have scored only 11 and not 18.

At 23, he recently renewed his contract at the end of December with FC Twente and the club’s sporting director himself has denied reports that came out in mid-January that an exit had been agreed for any offer of 7.5 million euros.

With a contract now in place through to 2028, the Enschede outfit will be able to decide for what price he departs when the bigger clubs inevitably start to tempt him in the summer.

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