OFFICIAL: Diks returns to Vitesse on loan

Man, Kevin Diks must have kicked Paulo Sousa‘s dog or something, because he just can’t catch a break under the Portuguese mister’s watch. The 20-year-old Dutchman has played all of 5 minutes for Fiorentina this season, spending the rest of the year under the watchful eye of Primavera boss Federico Guidi, where he’s been pretty solid. But for a player of his pedigree (2 seasons as a top-fight regular and a youth international), it’s still been a bit disappointing.

The arrival of Giuseppe Scalera, however, renders Diks’ services for the youth side superfluous. After interest from a hatful of Serie B teams, Pantaleo Corvino has instead decided to send him back to Vitesse Arnhem, where he impressed so much over the past 2 years. He’ll battle with Kelvin Leerdam for the starting berth, although he should win that battle over veteran Kelvin Leerdam.

We’ve seen Pantaleo Corvino clean out a bunch of Daniele Pradè’s youth signings, so this could be more of the same. However, Diks is cut from a different cloth from prospects like Andres Schetino, Diego Peralta, and Filippo Bandinelli, who all remain promising youngsters unproven in the top tier. Diks, on the other hand, has 2 seasons of holding his own against world-class attackers in the Eredivisie. It’d be a shame to give up on such a talented player after half a year, even if he’s shown a distressing inability to unseat the likes of Nenad Tomovic at fullback.