JAKARTA - PSSI General Chair, Erick Thohir, alluded to Barcelona's wonderkid, Lamine Yamal, when discussing Mauro Zijlstra's naturalization.
Currently Mauro Zijlstra is undergoing naturalization to be able to wear the Indonesian national team uniform. At the age of only 20, this FC Volendam player called Erick has the potential to play well even though he is young.
"He (Zijlstra) is only 20 years old, but in modern football, (Lamine) Young Yamal can be good," said Erick Thohir in a statement quoted on Friday, July 18, 2025.
Although he is sure that Zijlstra can perform brilliantly, Erick is reluctant to rush to place the player in the senior Indonesian national team.
SEE ALSO:
The man who also serves as Minister of SOEs ensured that Zijlstra had to process by first strengthening the U-23 Indonesian national team when the naturalization was completed.
Zijlstra's presence is expected to have an impact on the age group level until it can finally advance to class.
"However, don't be too fast. Play first (Indonesia) U-23, who knows good. Like Jens Raven yesterday, making six goals, but let him prove it first."
"There is still Hokky Caraka, just let Jens compete with Hokky. So that the players don't get big heads," said Erick.
To be on the front lines, Zijlstra has an ideal posture of 188 cm. The Zaandam-born player can be placed as a striker even though he can also play as an attacking midfielder.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
