Valentijn Driessen said on De Telegraaf's Kick-off podcast that Milan Zonneveld's rise and style remind him of a possible new Weghorst. The comments came with the 23-year-old striker now among the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie's leading scorers on six goals.
From amateur football to six league goals
A year and a half ago, Zonneveld was playing amateur football for Quick Boys. He is now one of the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie's leading scorers with six goals.
Why Driessen kept an eye on him
Driessen said: "I followed him at Telstar because he came from Quick Boys. I wanted to see how quickly he would adapt. Especially as he's a forward, because you have to have something special."
Driessen said: "And things really didn't work out for him at Telstar. At one point he was swapped for Thórisson. Thórisson went from Sparta to Telstar, and Zonneveld went to Sparta."
Driessen said: "I said to Maurice Steijn at the time that I thought they'd got a good deal with that lad, because he's got a lot of drive and always keeps going. But he scored very little there too."
What stood out against Willem II
Driessen said: "And now he's suddenly started scoring. The other day, against Willem II, I saw him make a move on the edge of the penalty area and play such a deft through ball that I thought: I don't know who's coaching him, but he's made enormous progress. And he's still relatively young."
Parallels with Weghorst
The report says Driessen sees parallels with Weghorst's development. At 23, Weghorst was still playing for Heracles Almelo. The report says Weghorst eventually reached Manchester United via AZ, VfL Wolfsburg, Burnley and Besiktas.
Driessen said: "Weghorst is, of course, on the decline, so perhaps he could become the new Weghorst. He keeps going. Constantly, for 90 minutes."