Uncapped Dutchman Ian Maatsen was holidaying on a yacht off Mykonos when he got a call up on Monday night for the European Championship and was asked to join up with the Netherlands squad as quickly as he could.
He wasted no time and was present for early evening training on Tuesday with the Dutch who arrived at their base in Wolfsburg after beating Iceland 4-0 in their final warm-up friendly in Rotterdam on Monday.
It was thanks to his father driving from the Netherlands to Germany to bring his boots that Maatsen was able to shake off the holiday cobwebs and begin to dream of winning a first cap at Euro 2024.
His father Edward, who first drove three hours from their home in Vlaardingen to Dortmund where Maatsen plays for Borussia Dortmund (on loan from Chelsea), explains: “Ian first wanted to come first to the Netherlands, but that didn’t seem like a good idea to us.”
There they packed his boots and some other personal items and headed off for another three hours to Wolfsburg.
Left wingback Maatsen replaces injured Frenkie de Jong and Teun Koopmeiners.