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EuroWatch: Santiago Gimenez the Feyenoord forward flying after reinvention

Santiago Gimenez sets records. The Mexico forward has become the first Feyenoord player to score a hat-trick against Ajax in Amsterdam. He is probably also the only player in the world this season to have scored a hat-trick but to have completed it on different days. Two of those goals against Ajax were scored in front of a furious Johan Cruyff Arena last Sunday week. The third went in last Wednesday afternoon, inside an empty stadium after the first game had been suspended in response to crowd trouble.

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On Saturday, he scored again for Arne Slot’s Dutch champions in a 3-1 win over Go Ahead Eagles, and his 10 goals in seven appearances — one every 55 minutes — makes him among the most prolific players in Europe.

This is the 22-year-old’s second season in the Netherlands. When Feyenoord signed him for €6million (£5.2m; $6.3m), it was an investment in a player they could mould, and with the expectation that significant reconditioning would be necessary. Despite being taller than 6ft and broad-shouldered, he was not strong enough or consistently physical enough for his new side. Slot’s Feyenoord depend on a high, intense press and Gimenez lacked the stamina to be a part of that.

Santiago Gimenez maakt goal nummer 🔟 van het seizoen! 🔥💪#feygae

— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) September 30, 2023

The club had identified areas of his physiology that needed rewiring if he was to reach his potential and the rationing of minutes in the autumn and early winter of 2022 was part of their strategy. He started just four league games and did not complete a single 90 minutes. That he was not selected in Gerardo Martino’s squad for the World Cup in Qatar allowed him to stay in Rotterdam and quietly prepare for the second half of the domestic season.

Before moving to Europe, Gimenez had spent his career at Mexico City’s Cruz Azul, historically one of the biggest sides in the country and the club he joined as a child. But as a first-team player, he was hardly prolific, managing 21 goals in 105 appearances and operating mainly as an advanced, back-to-goal forward who had little involvement in the overall play.

He was not particularly Mexican in style. In his few appearances for the national team before Qatar 2022, he did little to make the case for his inclusion. He was physically immature and tactically underdeveloped, so Martino opted instead for Raul Jimenez, Hirving Lozano, Henry Martin or Rogelio Funes Mori, all of whom were more experienced and, at the time, probably better too.

Slot has transformed Feyenoord and Gimenez (Rico Brouwer/Soccrates/Getty Images)

It was controversial, but the extra work with Feyenoord expedited Gimenez’s development. After the winter break, he scored 13 of his 15 Eredivisie goals between January and May, including a scoring run of eight consecutive Eredivisie games. The data behind his performances was positive. During his final season in Liga MX, Gimenez averaged 4.3 touches in the opposition penalty box per 90 minutes. Across his first season at Feyenoord, that nearly doubled (8.3), with his shots per 90 minutes rising from under three every 90 minutes, to well over four. Feyenoord won the title by seven points and the quality of Gimenez’s one- and two-touch finishing was among the decisive factors.

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For Feyenoord, it was a reward for diligence in their scouting. They had an advantage with Gimenez, in that their CEO, Dennis te Kloese, is a former director of youth football and general manager of the Mexican Football Association. They knew the landscape but had paid attention to personality.

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GO DEEPER

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Gimenez is from a deeply religious upbringing and is surrounded in his new country by a tight, stable unit. He lives in Rotterdam with his partner, and the pair are supported by members of both families. Gimenez is as likely to be found at art galleries and in museums as he is on a sofa with a PlayStation controller.

He is from an affluent family. His father was Christian “Chaco” Gimenez, who also played for Cruz Azul and Mexico, and — like his son — was born in Argentina. Santiago has spoken of his father’s influence and of how, when he was younger, his youth games would be followed by back-seat-of-the-car analysis of what he might have done better. By his telling, his father was strict. But that bred a self-starter — away from the sport, too. His Dutch is still limited, but he has been learning English since he arrived in Europe and is proficient enough to give interviews.

On the pitch, there has been development. His goal tally last season attested to his traditional centre-forward qualities but he was often a bystander. In an away win over Heerenveen in February, Gimenez scored but had just 14 touches in 66 minutes. Against Fortuna Sittard two weeks later, he scored again but touched the ball just 17 times in 59 minutes. He averaged just over nine attempted passes per game last season and was rarely involved in the middle third of the pitch.

That has been the biggest change. Now he is an increasing part of Feyenoord’s tactical identity and closer to Slot’s vision of what a centre-forward should be: a presser and goalscorer, but a function of the team. Towards the end of last season, Gimenez’s touches per game began to creep up into the 20s and 30s, and this season they have stayed in that range.

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His passes have jumped up, to an average of around 14 per game. Many more of his touches are occurring within that middle third of the pitch. There were 13 against Sparta Rotterdam, 11 versus Almere City and 18 during that rout of Ajax. His first goal in Amsterdam was a further testament to this process. Gimenez scored with a sweeping finish, and began the move with a first-time pass from the middle of the pitch that sprung Quinten Timber into space down the left.

He told members of the Dutch media that it had been a planned move constructed by Slot to take advantage of the space behind Ajax’s wing-backs. That it pivoted around Gimenez was descriptive of his improvement and Slot’s growing tactical trust. It was an endorsement of his decision to remain at Feyenoord despite opportunities to leave.

His father visited Atletico Madrid in the spring and there are admirers at Benfica and Arsenal. Slot’s decision to stay despite Premier League interest influenced Gimenez, but so did the opportunity to play more European football and add further weight to his reputation. Should Gimenez’s form and expanding range of influence extend beyond the Netherlands and into a Champions League group that includes Atletico, Lazio and Celtic, then that will make him one of the most highly coveted young forwards on the market.

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