Bart Verbruggen was never quite able to convince Roberto De Zerbi that he should be Brighton’s undisputed No.1.
The former Seagulls boss was never completely sold on the Dutchman after his £16million arrival from Anderlecht last summer, rotating him with Jason Steele throughout the Premier League season. But the Netherlands stopper has had no such problems with Dutch chief Ronald Koeman and his goalkeeper coach Frans Hoek, who has likened him to Edwin van der Sar, and the Oranje are reaping the rewards.
Since winning his first cap against France in a Euro 2024 qualifier back in October, Verbruggen hasn’t looked back. He’s started nine of their last 10 games, kept six clean sheets and on Friday night made a piece of European Championship history, becoming the youngest goalkeeper to record a clean sheet in a finals match, at the age of 21 years, 308 days.
