Star man Mijnans out of action at AZ: ‘There is still some damage’ | OneFootball

Maarten Martens has given a medical update on his AZ Alkmaar selection ahead of his side’s clash with Heracles Almelo in the KNVB Cup semi-final on Thursday evening. Arriving as a huge miss for that game, it is reported that Sven Mijnans is still injured following his early substitute withdrawal against Galatasaray in the Europa League.

At the press conference in the run-up to the cup match, Martens gave an update: “He’ll be out for a while. It’s a muscle problem, there’s some damage there. So that’s going to take a while. I can’t really put a time on it, but I think a few weeks.”

Zico Buurmeester seems to be his replacement – just like on Sunday, when he scored the winning goal against Fortuna Sittard. Martens continued:

“I thought he came on very well against Galatasaray. He was very important for us in that first half. He continued that and he was also important last weekend. Although he also had some bad moments and he could have been more decisive. He has to show it now. Although he did not come out of the battle completely unscathed, so we will have to wait and see.”

Ruben van Bommel, Jayden Addai and Mexx Meerdink are all also injured. The latter ‘is going in the right direction’, but is not there yet. Jordy Clasie also had some trouble, but is fit. Furthermore, Martens is looking forward to the match against Heracles.

“I am of course really looking forward to it. It is another big match and we want to reach that final.

“Very early in the season, we said that the focus should be on the cup. We had a difficult match against FC Groningen in that tournament, but we got through it well. Then we got Ajax and we won that too. That’s how it grows. The closer you get, the more you think: it’s possible. But that was very early for us.”

GBeNeFN | Max Bradfield