Pundit launches scathing attack on ‘strange’ Tottenham star who’s way behind £43m rival
Tottenham duo James Maddison and Radu Dragusin
The battle lines have been drawn ahead of Romania’s Euro 2024 last-16 clash against the Netherlands, as a Dutch observer has surprisingly torn into Radu Dragusin and labelled one of his Tottenham Hotspur team-mates as being a step above.
Dragusin became the most expensive Romanian player of all time when he joined Tottenham for £25million during the January transfer window, which followed the defender’s impressive spell at Italian club Genoa. So far, Dragusin has managed nine appearances for Tottenham, and he will be hoping to play more regularly under Ange Postecoglou during the 2024-25 season.
The centre-half, who can also play as a right-back if required, is the biggest name in the Romania squad and has started in all three of their Euro 2024 group matches.
Dragusin helped Romania pull off a surprise 3-0 win over Ukraine and draw 1-1 with Slovakia as they – incredibly – finished top of Group E ahead of Belgium.
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Edward Iordanescu’s side have been unlucky though, as they will come up against the Netherlands in the round of 16 despite winning their group. Virgil van Dijk and co. finished behind Austria and France in Group D and qualified for the knockout stage as one of the best third-placed teams.
The game, which will take place on Tuesday afternoon, will be of interest to Tottenham supporters as Dragusin will start for Romania, while Micky van de Ven could feature for the Netherlands.
Ahead of the match, Dutch pundit Valentijn Driessen has shockingly ripped into Dragusin and reaffirmed that Van De Ven is the better player.
After questioning Dragusin’s ‘strange’ haircut, Driessen said: “He didn’t achieve anything at all last season. He plays for Tottenham Hotspur, where he is under contract.
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“His agent thinks he’s great. He is always stalking Daniel Levy about his player, that he should get a salary increase and should play.
“[He doesn’t play] because he is simply not good enough and Van De Ven plays there.”
Driessen then joked: “We might be better off playing with Van De Ven than with Van Dijk, because he will keep Dragusin out of the match!”
Should Dragusin find out about Driessen’s savage comments, then it will give the 22-year-old extra motivation to stun the Netherlands and help Romania reach the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.
It will be tough for Romania to advance, as they do not have many top players whereas Dutch manager Ronald Koeman can rely on the likes of Van Dijk, Van De Ven, Memphis Depay, Xavi Simons and Nathan Ake.
But Romania have already caused an upset in the group stage and will fancy their chances. Plus, this is not the strongest or most confident Dutch side, as they were torn apart by Austria at times on Tuesday.