He would be an instant hit.
He seem like an interesting prospect, but that is impossible to know. Ferguson have said in the past that some players adapt like a duck hits the water, other need more time to adjust. It is always hard to predict who will need time.
That being said, Kevin Strootmans resume is worth taking note of. Especially considering our status in midfield. I have only seen him play on a couple of occasions and I did not really take any notice of him (nor did I intend to). Next time I will. Just turned 22, and already the focal point of PSV and a contender for a place in the starting lineup for Holland sounds like marks of quality. On the other hand one should remember that Holland do not have as many quality players in midfield as they used to. Being in their squad is not a synonym for being good enough to be a starter at Man Utd. And I hope that we will be searching for players that can improve our starting lineup the next time we buy a center midfielder.
I recently read this
article about him. Some parts of it made him sound like a really interesting player, for instance:
"Strootman cuts a languid figure and on first appearance alone it’s hard to imagine he was a creative attacking midfielder in the trequartista mould in his earlier days. But watch him spray the ball over long and short range, with intuition, vision and a gifted left foot, and you’ll stop judging this book by its cover."
"Adjusting from the advance role he was afforded at Sparta, he became a more reassured, deeper-lying regista, excelling at ball retention and recycling."
"However, he excels at spatial awareness and keeping the ball circulating."
Does not sound like a Keane-type at all. But he do sound like a player who could be a match made in heaven for Michael Carrick. I also noticed that he is very self-critical because he feels he have not delivered enough assists. That surprised me a bit, because he actually have nine assists in Eredivise and six in Europe. I understand why some claim we need a backup to Carrick more than a partner; it could be more dangerous starting next season without a backup to Carrick than without a new partner. But I think we might need both. I would put it this way: a new partner to Carrick could raise our maximum and average potential, while an alternative for him would raise our bottom-level.
