Arriving in the Antwerp metropolis in the last hours of the winter transfer window, the captain of our national youth team had to chomp at the bit before receiving a real chance from the Dutch coach. The reasons are multiple. Upon his arrival at Bosuil, the midfielder was hampered by physical problems even though the Great Old had signed him to replace Arthur Vermeeren, who had left for Atletico Madrid.
Why did Van Bommel wait so long before fielding Matazo?
Before Sunday's match at Cercle, Matazo's playing time was reduced to nothing, with less than 30 minutes on the clock. Van Bommel often kept Yusuf and Keita in his midfield, while asking Janssen to drop lower in the game, leaving Matazo to observe matches from the bench. And then the economic situation in Antwerp did not plead in favor of the young Belgian, since there is no purchase option in his contract and at present, Paul Gheysens and Sven Jacques think more about selling players than buying them.
In this context, it is difficult for Matazo to stand out. Except that the start of Antwerp's catastrophic playoffs forced Van Bommel to find a new balance with the Keita-Matazo pair. Based on his three-star performance against the band at Muslic, it is hard to imagine Matazo leaving the team during the double confrontation against the Union this week. I am more inclined to think that it will receive a unique opportunity to convince the last skeptics before being definitively launched. That's all the bad I wish for this intelligent footballer, on and off the field.
