Dutch midfielder Wouter Burger is presently playing for Stoke City in the English Championship.
Spurs and Sheffield United are showing interest in the player due to his outstanding performances at the center of the Potters’ midfield.
According to Fraser Gillan of TEAMtalk, four teams are battling for Burger’s signature, including Tottenham and Sheffield United, who were recently relegated. Bids of about £12 million are reportedly sufficient to seal a deal.
Burger, 23, arrived at the Potteries in the summer after leaving Swiss team Basel for a reported £4.3 million. Despite Stoke’s disappointing season, which saw them finish in 17th place and just miss relegation, Burger’s performances were noteworthy.
Burger, who was brought in by former manager Alex Neil of Norwich, Preston, and Sunderland at the beginning of the season before being fired halfway through, has been just as essential to Schumacher, the Potters’ acquisition of Schumacher from Plymouth.
Burger played in 39 of Stoke’s 46 league games this season, mostly from a deep midfield position. He scored three goals, assisted on four more, and had ten yellow cards.
Burger’s career so far
Burger, who was born in the southern Dutch province of Zuid-Beijerland, enrolled in Feyenoord’s academy in 2013 after graduating from Excelsior. He worked his way up to the first squad and made his debut for the team in the Europa League in August 2018 after replacing Tyrell Malacia, a potential left-back for Manchester United.
The midfielder then headed out on loan to Excelsior for the second half of the 2019-20 campaign, but due to the outbreak of Covid-19 the loan was cut short and he returned to Feyenoord following the season’s cancellation.
For the 2020-21 campaign, Burger was sent back out on loan again to another Rotterdam-based side, this time in Sparta Rotterdam. He made 18 appearances and scored twice during his time at the club.
Burger then made the move to the north of Switzerland with FC Basel in August 2021 for a fee believed to be around €700k (£595k), signing a four-year contract.
He helped the Swiss side reach the Europa Conference League semi-finals in the 2022-23 season, where they fell just short losing 4-3 on aggregate to Italian side Fiorentina, who were ultimately beaten in the final by West Ham.
In two years with the club, Burger amassed 90 appearances in all competitions, scoring six times and assisting a further five goals whilst picking up 26 yellow cards, before heading to Staffordshire with Stoke City in August 2023 for £4.3m, signing a four-year contract with the club.
If not for the heroics of 20-year-old South Korean Bae Jun-Ho in the closing parts of the season, the Dutchman was certain to earn the Potters’ Player of the Year title.
Though he hasn’t yet played for the national team at the senior level, the 23-year-old has represented his birth country at every youth level. It might not be long before that changes.
What is Burger like as a player?
The Dutchman can play a variety of roles and perform numerous tasks, being so versatile.
Standing at 191cm (6ft 3), his height enables him to be extremely competitive in the air, with his long limbs allowing him to take gigantic strides with and without the ball, being perceptively quick.
For the Potters this campaign, Burger has played in numerous positions, being the defensive midfielder in a 4-3-3, a part of the midfield two in a 4-3-3 and a part of a double pivot in a 4-2-3-1, highlighting his ability to adapt.
A trademark of the 23-year-old’s game is his long-range passing, often spraying passes out to either wing or attempting to find a through ball to a forward running in behind.
He has been averaging o.2 expected assists per 90 minutes this campaign in the Championship, good enough for around six expected assists across the campaign instead of the four he actually picked up.
One area where Burger can aim to improve is his disciplinary record, picking up o.34 yellow cards per 90 minutes in the league this season.
Though this should somewhat be expected, with the Dutchman completing 3.51 tackles per 90 in the league this campaign as well, putting him in the 99th percentile amongst midfielders in the Championship.
Whilst Burger still has a way to go to become more of a complete player, his physical attributes, as well as his game intelligence, means he can only get better and being 23 years old, he has ample time to do just that.
Where will Burger go?
With interest rife in the Dutch midfielder, he looks destined to depart the Potteries for bigger things in the future.
The Staffordshire-based outfit has reportedly set a £12million asking price, though they will be hoping to hang on to him for at least another year.
Both Tottenham and Sheffield Utd have been monitoring the Dutchman’s situation, with two other unnamed clubs said to want to take a bite of Burger too.
Tottenham can undoubtedly afford the midfielder, with Stoke’s asking price unlikely to put the north London side off. Manager Ange Postecoglou will likely go through a midfield rebuild this summer.
Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg, Oliver Skipp and Giovani Lo Celso have all struggled for minutes under the Australian this campaign and could all very well depart the Lilywhites in the next few months.
18-year-old Swedish starlet Lucas Bergvall is expected to head straight into the first-team squad next campaign after Spurs sealed an £8.5m swoop for the youngster at the beginning of February, with the midfielder’s performances in his native Sweden earning him rave reviews.
Burger will unlikely thrust himself straight into Spurs’ starting XI upon joining, with Yves Bissouma, James Maddison, Pape Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur all to contend with, but the Dutchman would certainly contend for minutes if he was to join.
Sheffield Utd endured a season to forget, having finished rock bottom of the Premier League with three wins all campaign and 104 goals conceded in that time.
Manager Chris Wilder was brought in midway through the season, replacing Paul Heckingbottom in the process, but in truth never looked likely to survive and this summer the club is on for a massive rebuild.
Max Lowe, Chris Basham, George Baldock, Oliver Norwood and Wes Foderingham are all departing Bramall Lane in the next couple of months upon the expiry of their contracts, with numerous other players said to be of interest to other clubs or unwanted.
It is uncertain whether or not the Blades will shell out upwards of £12m on a single player with a mass rebuild ahead, though Burger would certainly add some much-needed quality to their midfield.
It remains to be seen if Burger will stick around in the Potteries for another year with him being so sought after, though Stoke fans will be praying they can hang on to him for at least another year, having a contract running until the summer of 2027.
