Go Ahead Eagles has completed the arrival of Melle Meulensteen on Tuesday. The midfielder comes from the Italian side Sampdoria and signs a four-year contract in Deventer.
The 26-year-old Meulensteen previously played for Preston North End, Lancaster City, RKC Waalwijk, and Vitesse. He exchanged the Arnhem club last summer for Sampdoria. But after a year, he has decided to play football in the Netherlands again.
“I am really happy with this step,” says the former youth player of Manchester United on the Go Ahead website. “This is a great club with a beautiful stadium. With RKC and Vitesse, I have played here with varying degrees of success.”
Meulensteen calls his period at Sampdoria “a bit mixed”. “It was a very turbulent period, with many changes of coaches and a miraculous escape from relegation. In one year in Italy, I have experienced everything that you can experience there.”
Technical manager Marc van Hintum is happy with the arrival of Meulensteen. “He was the most interesting midfielder for us. Melle is good at football and is tactically strong. He is also multifunctional because he can also play as a central defender.”
Meulensteen will play with Go Ahead in the Europa League, for which the club qualified with the cup win last season. The team lost the battle for the Johan Cruijff Shield against PSV on Sunday (1-2). Go Ahead starts the Eredivisie season on Friday with an away match against Fortuna Sittard.