Bruno Martins Indi: The new Jaap Stam

Bruno Martins Indi, the Feyenoord centre back who recently got a call up for the Dutch National team, has started receiving plaudits for his composed performances both at the club and national level. As an academy graduate from the well esteemed Feyenoord academy, he made his club debut in 2010-11 and since then, there is no looking back for this Portuguese born defender.

Started occasionally, he was well applauded for his solid performance at the back in Feyenood’s emphatic 6-1 win against a hapless Willem II in 2011. In the same game, he also registered his name on the scoring sheet. This was the game from when he started making headlines and even caught the attention of national selectors. With the Dutch defence looking porous (which was well exposed in Euro, 2012), it was an opportunity for the youngster to prove his critics wrong. And he did not let anybody down with his astute performances at the back. His performance last night against the Azurris has a similar story to tell. He completely dominated the likes of El Sharaawy and Mario Balotelli, and has received accolades for his performance. Further, his knack of finding the net at the international level is an added dimension to his play. He has scored twice in the six international games that he was a part of, against Hungary and Romania in the World Cup qualifiers.

Very strong aerially, strong tackling ability, strength in dealing with 50-50 duels and challenges as well as sudden bursts of pace are some of the characteristics imbibed in him and should be the pre-requisites for any great centre back. Neat in possession and decent passing ability are also his other characteristics. Further, his versatility can be assessed by his playing ability as a left back as well. However, his naivety lies in the lack of experience at the senior level which sometimes makes him suspect in positioning and his ruthlessness in tackling to pick up bookings (he has been booked twice in this season and also has picked up a red card).

After having shown the signs of a reliable future prospect at the heart of the Dutch defence, only time will tell how he lives up to the hype and expectation that is already surrounding him.

He could be the next Jaap Stam in the making, who also used to be well regarded as someone with a rare combination of speed, strength and ball playing ability while being calm and composed at the heart of defence.