Credit: Imago, Hasan Karim

Evan Shaw

Thu 26 June 2025 7:00, UK

Aston Villa fans are bound to have kept one eye on the Euro U21 semi-final between England and the Netherlands.

The high-profile clash saw two of the Villans’ brightest young prospects go toe to toe, with Ian Maatsen starting for the Dutch and Samuel Iling-Junior ultimately an unused substitute for England.

Lee Carsley’s side secured their place in the final thanks to a brace from Harvey Elliott, who is also currently linked with a potential switch to Villa Park amid question marks over his future at Liverpool.

However, that result brought a close to Maatsen’s involvement in the tournament. His Dutch side managed to recover from a poor start to reach the latter stages, but have now been denied their shot at glory in Saturday’s (28 June) showpiece final.

Maatsen’s performance has been criticsed by Dutch media

Maatsen has been surprisingly poor in this tournament, on the back of putting in several impressive performances for Villa last term.

There has been high hopes for the left-back, as one of the more experienced members of the Netherlands squad, and he perhaps hasn’t hit the heights that many expected.

That has seen him come in for criticism from certain quarters, and following his side’s exit from the competition on Thursday (25 June), he has once again been in the firing line of the Dutch media.

The 23-year-old played the full 90 minutes in his side’s defeat, but failed to have the kind of impact on the game that has come to be expected from him during his time at Villa Park.

Voetbal Primeur handed Maatsen a match rating of 5.5/10 and branded him as “invisible” in the team’s defeat.

“He had an easier evening than his full-back colleague on the other side of the field, but was otherwise invisible,” the outlet wrote.

“More can be expected of a player who played in the Champions League final and is under contract with a Premier League club.

Mee Met Oranje were slightly more lenient on the Villa man, handing him a rating of 6.5. They added that the Netherlands only truly notice what they are missing when Maatsen isn’t on the pitch.

Emery may need to help rebuild Maatsen’s confidence

Lucas Digne seems destined to depart Villa this summer, which should see Maatsen in line for an even bigger role when he returns to B6 for pre-season.

However, it now looks as though Unai Emery may need to try and rebuild the youngster’s confidence in the early weeks of the campaign, such has been the volume of criticism he has received during his time at the U21 Euros.

The former Chelsea man proved his worth to Emery in the second half of the campaign, and was able to establish himself as a regular feature in the Spanish boss’ plans.

With the Villans facing tight PSR constraints, they will surely be tempted to lean on Maatsen more heavily, rather than dipping into the market to secure a replacement on the left side of their defence.

As a result, Emery’s man-management skills may have to come into play as he attempts to reinstill the belief that Maatsen had in his game towards the end of the previous campaign.