Who is Danilho Doekhi?- The 23-year-old Vitesse defensive Powerhouse linked to Newcastle United

Going by the reports by the Dutch media, Newcastle United along with Fulham and Rangers hold a strong interest in Vitesse’s defensive stalwart Danilho Doekhi.

The 22-year-old is a centre-half who has made 34 appearances during the current 2020/21 campaign and has been an integral part of the highly impressive Vitesse side, who are competing with PSV for the Europa League slot.

Danilho Doekhi came through the ranks of Excelsior and then moved to Ajax’s academy. At Ajax, he spent 2 years and then moved to the Rotterdam-based club Vitesse for regular first-team football.

Since coming to Vitesse, Doekhi has been ever crucial to them and has made 78 Eredivisie appearances till now. This season the dutch defender has been one of the consistent and reliable presence at the back for Vitesse.

His consistency and sparkling numbers have certainly caught the eyes of the scouts of various clubs around the continent. Standing at 6’3” (1.90m), The lanky Dutch defender has the physique which makes him aerially dominant, contesting 3 successful aerial duels per game which rank second in the Vitesse squad.

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Doekhi is an excellent defender. His positioning is pretty good, he tackles with strength, confidence, and purpose, and his awareness allows him to make some crucial interceptions. He’s averaging 4.8 tackles & Interceptions per 90, which are very decent for a centre-back this stat also shows how aggressive a presser he is, and the high line his team maintains on the pitch.

Danilho looks confident when going forward to support attacking moves, which is for taken with him being nurtured in Ajax’s play-it-from-the-back style. This season he’s averaging 55 passes per game at an 85% success rate also he’s lobbing in with 2.4 accurate long-balls per game these numbers show his decent ball-playing ability.

With him being that consistent despite being a raw talent we can expect him to grow into an established premier league centre-half very soon. He is less prone to making any silly errors, in his 90 senior appearances there’s not a single error leading to a goal.

The CHN Newcastle Verdict:

He would be a welcome addition to our aging backline, It’s high time that we should add young blood to our center-backs roster. Our most defenders are slow and easily dribbled past.

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Fede Fernandez will be out of contract come this summer, whilst Jamaal Lascelles has been injury-prone of late.

After watching him play I find him quite similar to young Lascelles, but Doekhi is a better passer and more comfortable on the ball than Lascelles.

There are reports that Norwich, Fulham, and Rangers all hovering about the player, Doekhi has decided to not sign a new deal. With his current deal running out in 2022, Vitesse are looking to earn a significant profit on the initial £200k they paid for Doekhi.

He is marked at £1.80m by the transfermarkt , so can well prove to be a bargain, and at 22 he certainly has a resale value.

Also, I’m sick of watching our defenders roll themselves back when under pressure, I sometimes think that our defenders are afraid to make tackles. (Oh, I forgot VAR, fair enough lads!)

Leave a comment below, Should Newcastle sign a center-half or fix up other areas?