January 05, 2017
It was only a matter of time until one of Earnie Stewart's former Eredivisie players made his way to Philadelphia.
The Union signed Giliano Wijnaldum, a 24-year-old left back who came through the AZ Alkmaar youth ranks and played three seasons for the first team while Stewart was the club's technical director.
He's the brother of Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum, a 26-year-old Dutch international midfielder.
"I'd say that Giliano is one of those talents from back in the day when we worked at AZ Alkmaar," Stewart told reporters via conference call on Thursday afternoon. "He's a left defender, can also play on the inside when necessary as a left center back, but his main part is being a left back. He's a defender with a lot of speed. He has physical ability, he can be good in the air likes running up and down the line a lot and putting in crosses, so there's a lot of potential there for Giliano, especially in this league where you have to be an athlete, to move up and down, and it's not only attacking, it's defending. He has a lot of those qualities and I'm very pleased that he signed for us."
Wijnaldum didn't play too much in his first two seasons with Alkmaar. He found himself backing up Simon Poulsen, the club's Danish international left back. When Poulsen transferred to Sampdoria two years later, Wijnaldum earned a spot in the starting eleven and played more than 20 games for Alkmaar in the 2012-13 season, a campaign in which the team won the Dutch domestic cup. Wijnaldum played 90 minutes in that cup final.
He later moved to Groningen on a free transfer, then spent a season with Go Ahead Eagles before moving to VFL Bochum in the German second division. He appeared more than 15 times for the Netherlands U19 and U20 teams.
"He came out of the academy at AZ Alkmaar," Stewart said. "I think he even played with (Union midfielder Roland Alberg) for one year. But he came out of the academy as a bright prospect in a difficult situation, because the club had become a different kind of club, where there were big signings at first, and yes, we did have players in his position. He had to (compete) against some good players, and obviously, that's not easy. When you're young, you want to play as quickly as possible, and that's not always the case."
Earnie Stewart confirms that Wijnaldum is the 6th of 7 international spots. They have 7 this year (at the moment), 8 next year
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) January 5, 2017
The left back spot has historically been mishandled by the Union. In the middle of the 2011 season, Peter Nowak traded Jordan Harvey, a naturally left-footed defender, and replaced him with right- footed midfielder Gabriel Farfan. John Hackworth used right back Ray Gaddis in the left back spot, and the Union skated by on the cheap until Fabinho developed into a quality starter sometime during the 2015 season.
Fabinho is now 31-years old and in the final year of his contract. For the first time in a long time, it looks like there will be competition for the starting left back job in preseason camp.
"As the game has evolved, and you see this as the way we want to do it in Philadelphia, we want our outside backs to get forward," said head coach Jim Curtin. "We want them on the ball making decisions. We want them attacking and getting service into the box. Giliano obviously checks all of those boxes. When we talk about a Philadelphia Union left back, and the qualities that we want, he checks every box for us. He's a guy that's a good fit."
