Jump to content

Tim Matavz


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 422
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Peter Huistra is the Groningen manager.

He's the big lad who came on vs England at the World Cup. Only really seen highlight's of him on ESPN.

Decent scoring record, 13 league goals last season, 10 so far this season. He's pretty pacy from what I remember.

From hearing them talking about him and articles, he's highly rated across Europe.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Matavž began his football career playing for NK Bilje at the age of 6. He moved to ND Gorica in 2004. In 2006/07 he scored 11 goals for Gorica in all Slovenian competitions, as well as their only goal in the first Qualifying round of UEFA Cup against Rabotnicki. On 30 August 2007 he signed 5 year contract for FC Groningen as eighteen year old talent. [1] Fiorentina was also interested to sign him at the time. [2] On 26 September 2007 he scored four goals for FC Groningen in KNVB Cup against IJsselmeervogels, but later he moved to FC Emmen on loan and remained there until January 2009. [3] On 13 March 2009 Matavž scored his first goal in the Eredivisie in a 2–0 victory over Roda JC. Soon he began scoring for Groningen on regular basis in all competitions. On 24 February 2010 Matavž extended his contract with club until 2012. On 9 October 2010 Matavž scored a hat-trick for Slovenia in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match against Faroe Islands. At the age of 21, he is the youngest player ever to score three goals for his country.

Not a goal scorer, although he could add something different. From hearing that he is pretty quick he will no doubt get played out wide.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Sky Sports had a bit on him showing a few of his goals - he's been linked with the Premiership.

Sky Sports World Cup preview.

At 21 years of age and having never featured for the senior side prior to his call-up, Matavz is perhaps the most surprising inclusion in the Slovenia squad.

Once a reported target for Fiorentina, Matavz oozes potential and national team coach Matjaz Kek deemed him worthy of a place in his 23 after making headlines in Dutch football.

Eredivisie side FC Groningen own his signature and a decent return of 12 goals in 28 games last term saw him make a late surge towards boarding the plane to South Africa.

His exploits earned him a contract extension with the Dutch club and Kek may see the youngster as his secret weapon from the bench.

Matavz's strongest attributes come via his accurate right foot, his burst of acceleration and troubling pace.

One of the rising stars of Slovenian football, Tim Matavz has been included in Matjaz Kek’s squad despite not having a single senior cap to his name. For all this lack of senior experience, the striker’s inclusion does not come as a major surprise, such has been his form at club and U-21 level.

Indeed, Matavz – who only turned 21 in January – is widely regarded as one of Europe’s most promising strikers, with Valencia, Stuttgart, Schalke and a clutch of leading English clubs having already made their interest known. The hype has been justified by a scoring ratio of one goal every two starts for FC Groningen, the Dutch club who pipped Fiorentina to the youngster’s signature in 2007.

His Groningen coach, Ron Jans, who has previously nurtured the likes of Luis Suarez and Marcus Berg, believes his latest prodigy can look forward to a bright future. "He is a pleasure to work with," said Jans. "Tim is a complete striker and has the potential to be as good as Suarez and Berg.”

This potential first became evident when he moved to his local professional club, ND Gorica, at the age of 15, and went on to force his way into the first team inside two years. Matavz was still just 18, in fact, when Groningen brought him to the Netherlands in 2007, although he rewarded their faith inside three months by scoring four times in a KNVB Cup victory over IJsselmeervogels. Seeing they had a rough diamond on their hands, his Dutch employers opted to hone the youngster’s talents by sending him out on loan to second tier side Emmen, where he scored five times in 15 appearances.

Groningen had seen enough to decide that Matavz was worthy of greater first team involvement, and this season has witnessed him feature frequently in his club’s fight for a European spot, and earn a new longer-term contract. This progress has not gone unnoticed by Kek, but the Slovenia coach – despite naming Matavz in his squad for the play-off against Russia – has preferred to let this talented youngster develop within a national U-21 side for whom he has been a key player for some time.

As recently as March, in fact, Matavz was on target for the U-21s in a friendly against his adopted Netherlands, and he will be hoping for a chance to show that he can bring this goalscoring ability to the biggest stage of all.

Link to post
Share on other sites

He sounds out of our reach unfortunately but I suppose stranger things have happened.

Maybe Peter Huistra wants to do us a wee turn.

Maybe, one thing we have shown with the Jelavic signing. We will invest if they are a good chance of a profit down the line.

Also we do give a good platform for players to try before moving to the premiership, it's a long shot... But if we are linked and are truly interested in these types of players then it's a welcome change to our scouting network (tu)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Upcoming Events

    • 25 May 2024 14:00 Until 16:00
      0  
      celtic v Rangers
      Hampden Park
      Scottish Cup

×
×
  • Create New...