Kenneth Taylor's Lazio Form Not Enough for Oranje Selection
Kenneth Taylor is leading Serie A with Lazio, wearing the captain’s armband and driving a surprise title push after eleven rounds. From Rome, he can see the summit of Italian football. What he will not see this month is the inside of the Netherlands dressing room.
Xavi Hernandez named his squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League clashes with Greece and Germany and left out one of Europe’s form midfielders. On numbers and narrative, Taylor had a compelling case. On Xavi’s list, he had no place.
‘The most difficult decision’
Facing the media on Monday morning, Xavi did not hide behind clichés. He put Taylor’s name at the heart of his selection dilemma.
“In the first period, the hardest decision was Memphis, and now it was Kenneth,” he said, placing the Lazio captain’s omission above even the high‑profile call he made on Memphis Depay in the previous camp.
That framing matters. It underlines how close Taylor came.
“He could have been included, but he is certainly in the picture. If he performs like this, he can certainly return. If he keeps scoring like this, he will come back.”
The door is not just ajar; Xavi is effectively telling Taylor to keep doing exactly what he is doing in Serie A.
Victim of a crowded engine room
The problem for Taylor is not form. It is traffic.
Xavi was clear: the Lazio midfielder is a casualty of an overloaded Oranje midfield, suddenly swollen by key returns. Frenkie de Jong is back. Justin Kluivert is back. Joey Veerman is back. The spine of the side has changed shape in a single window.
Asked directly whether Veerman and De Jong could operate together, Xavi did not hesitate. “Yes, that is a possibility. All good players can play together. Joey is doing well in Dortmund. Frenkie is a top player; I used him as a central defender myself at Barcelona. But that is not my preference, of course.”
That answer does two things at once. It underlines De Jong’s status as a reference point and confirms Veerman’s rise at club level. It also explains why someone, somewhere, had to fall out of the squad. This time, it was Taylor.
Xavi stressed that the same principle still governs everything: form and club performances dictate selection. The irony is obvious. Taylor’s club form is outstanding; the bar in his position is simply higher than ever.
Nations League pressure, youth retained
While Taylor stays in Italy, the Netherlands head into a defining Nations League double-header. Greece on 13 November. Germany on 16 November. Two fixtures that will shape the tone of Xavi’s tenure and the confidence of a squad still searching for a settled identity.
The head coach has chosen to keep some of his brightest young talents around the senior camp. Ruben van Bommel and Gjivai Zechiël will not drop down to the Under-21s for European Championship play-offs. They remain in the full squad, exposed to the intensity and expectation of top-level international football.
That choice says plenty about where Xavi sees the future of Oranje being built: inside his own dressing room, not on the periphery.
Taylor’s response comes in Serie A
For Taylor, the message is brutal but simple. Keep leading Lazio. Keep scoring. Keep dragging a club not expected to top Serie A into a title conversation.
He has already forced his way into Xavi’s thinking once, having featured during the initial selection and appeared in the away match against Serbia. He now has to do it all over again, from the outside looking in.
If the national team’s midfield is as crowded as Xavi suggests, Taylor’s best argument will not be words or interviews. It will be another dominant month in Italy, another surge in a league where he is already setting the pace.
If he maintains this level, the real question for the next international window may not be whether Taylor fits Oranje — but who Xavi dares to leave out instead.
