[ad_pod ]

Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton are all tracking Netherlands international Arnaut Danjuma Groeneveld, per the Daily Mail.

The 21-year-old Club Brugge winger enjoyed a great start to the season and is being tracked by the clubs despite a serious ankle injury.

What's the word?

Groeneveld has been on the sidelines since October, but enjoyed a scintillating start to the season.

He scored four goals and provided four assists in the first half of the season and also played in the Champions League, in games against Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid.

Check out the video below to see how Brazil fans reacted to being asked how Cristiano Ronaldo would perform for them in a hilarious prank by Pl>ymaker FC...

AC Milan have begun the bidding, tabling an offer worth £9million, and a clutch of Premier League clubs are monitoring his progress.

Brugge are reported to be aware of the interest in the Netherlands international, who has won two senior caps for his country.

Brugge secured Groeneveld's signature from NEC Nijmegen, and Manchester City are said to have made an enquiry about the player's availability at the time.

Academies ignored

This is yet another example of Premier League clubs wilfully ignoring the talent they have farmed.

The likes of Spurs and Liverpool have plenty of young players ready to make the step into the first-team, and Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp have both had success in promoting from within.

Why they would chase an obscure left winger from Club Brugge, then, is something of a mystery, and it is a prime example of why English talent is now looking elsewhere for first-team opportunities.

Jadon Sancho blazed a trail by turning his back on City to join Borussia Dortmund, because he was fed up with the lack of first-team opportunities being offered to him.

It is easy to see why young English players would be so disheartened by the recruitment of players like Groeneveld.

His statistics are nothing special, and he is an unknown quantity; the Premier League clubs interested would be better off looking at their own academies and promoting a winger to the first-team.

They, at least, have served their time at the club and earned their chance. Groeneveld, quite simply, hasn't.