Kees Smit Scout Report: AZ’s 20-Year-Old Midfielder and a €60m Expectation
When a player’s valuation moves from academy level to a €60 million expectation in eighteen months, a scout’s job is not to confirm the number but to break down the columns that make it up. Kees Smit’s file calls for exactly that separation. A midfielder who entered AZ’s academy at nine, signed his first professional contract at fifteen and by twenty had collected both a European competition award and a senior international debut. Against that, his league output is still modest: sources record roughly 22-23 appearances with 3 goals and 2 assists in 2025-26. The distance between those two pictures is the subject of this report.
| Mevki | Midfielder |
|---|---|
| Kulüp | AZ Alkmaar |
| Uyruk | Netherlands |
| Yaş | 20 |
| Doğum | 20.01.2006 |
| Boy | 1.82 m |
| Ayak | Right |
| Piyasa Değeri | ~€25m (club valuation ~€60m) |
| Sözleşme | until June 2028 |
The frame: born in Heiloo on 20 January 2006, he joined AZ’s academy in 2015 at the age of nine and signed his first professional contract in January 2021. He made his professional debut for Jong AZ in January 2023 before moving up to the senior side. In November 2024 he scored in a 3-1 Europa League win over Fenerbahçe. In the 2025 UEFA Youth League AZ reached the final, beating Hajduk Split 5-0 in the semi-final. That same year he won the European Championship with the Netherlands U19 and was named player of the tournament. On 27 March 2026 he made his senior international debut in a friendly against Norway.
Strengths
- Opening the ball in the right direction with the first touch under pressure.
- Setting body orientation before receiving; the time he wins in congested areas.
- Low error rate in short-range passing.
- Sprints arriving at the right moment; able to carry a ninety-minute load.
- A European competition award and senior international minutes banked at twenty.
Weaknesses
- Inaccuracy in long passes and switches of play.
- Low frequency of entering the box and the limited goal contribution that follows.
- An acceleration profile that is not elite in open space.
- A moderate aerial contribution.
Development Areas
The first heading is the habit of staying in the final third. This is not a technical gap but a question of choice: staying on the edge of the box after releasing the ball, rather than dropping back, directly changes the goal contribution numbers of an eight. The second is long-pass accuracy — for a midfielder involved in building from the back, consistency in the switch of play determines the team’s width, and that column is currently uneven. The third is acceleration in open space; because that is largely a physical ceiling, the development route runs through positional selection rather than through speed itself.
Contract Situation
His contract with AZ runs to June 2028. That is a structure in which the club keeps its negotiating strength for two more seasons but will not wait indefinitely: approaching the final year from the summer of 2027 is the threshold that will accelerate the valuation debate. In February 2026 a reported €50 million offer from Real Madrid fell short of the club’s €60 million expectation, while his Transfermarkt market value stood at around €25 million. Interest from Newcastle United was also reported in the same period. That wide gap between published value and club expectation is the most contested column in the file.
Career Projection
The closest comparisons for this profile are players who left the Dutch league and settled as central midfielders in a high-level European league, and the decisive column in that transition has always been the same: output produced in the final third. Smit’s build-up, pressure-resistance and positional defending columns are complete for his age; the only thing missing is the rate at which those columns convert into goals and assists. The data to follow over the next twelve months is plain: the number of runs he makes into the box and the goal contribution total attached to it. If that number rises, the profile moves from developing player to finished midfielder. If it stalls, the valuation debate reopens during the final two years of the contract.
A 20-year-old midfielder named young player of the season in a European competition, capped at senior level, with his pressure-resistance column already complete.
A rise in the frequency of his runs into the box and in his goal contribution total during 2026-27.
Tolga Şahin — Gegen Pres scout for Western Europe. Follows the first three years of players stepping up from English, French, Belgian and Dutch academies.
