One of the themes of this summer’s European Championship was how much teenage talent got a chance to shine and show what they could do on one of the very biggest stages. Michelle Agyemang, the England striker, epitomised that with her clutch performances in the knockouts, where she scored two massive goals to help the Lionesses triumph, but she was certainly not alone in showing that the kids are alright. Now, as the 2025-26 Women’s Super League season begins, many of the breakout stars of that tournament will be looking to build on memorable summers.
Agyemang looks set for a big year, having re-joined Brighton on loan from Arsenal. There, she should get the minutes needed to take the next step forward in her promising young career. Iman Beney is also hoping to catch the eye in England, having signed for Manchester City before the Euros. The 19-year-old is incredibly versatile, and her energy and positivity could be a real asset to the team in many positions. Emilia Szymczak, who was a rock at the back for Poland as the women’s national team made its major tournament debut, is set for a spell in the WSL too, having joined Liverpool on loan from Barcelona on deadline day.
And then there is Veerle Buurman, whose promise as a young defender slipped under the radar at the Euros as the Netherlands underperformed and crashed out in the group stages. Don’t let that distract from how good the 19-year-old is, though. Signed last summer by Chelsea, who have won each of the last six WSL titles, the former PSV star is now ready to fight for serious minutes in one of the best teams in the entire women’s game.
One of the themes of this summer’s European Championship was how much teenage talent got a chance to shine and show what they could do on one of the very biggest stages. Michelle Agyemang, the England striker, epitomised that with her clutch performances in the knockouts, where she scored two massive goals to help the Lionesses triumph, but she was certainly not alone in showing that the kids are alright. Now, as the 2025-26 Women’s Super League season begins, many of the breakout stars of that tournament will be looking to build on memorable summers.
Agyemang looks set for a big year, having re-joined Brighton on loan from Arsenal. There, she should get the minutes needed to take the next step forward in her promising young career. Iman Beney is also hoping to catch the eye in England, having signed for Manchester City before the Euros. The 19-year-old is incredibly versatile, and her energy and positivity could be a real asset to the team in many positions. Emilia Szymczak, who was a rock at the back for Poland as the women’s national team made its major tournament debut, is set for a spell in the WSL too, having joined Liverpool on loan from Barcelona on deadline day.
And then there is Veerle Buurman, whose promise as a young defender slipped under the radar at the Euros as the Netherlands underperformed and crashed out in the group stages. Don’t let that distract from how good the 19-year-old is, though. Signed last summer by Chelsea, who have won each of the last six WSL titles, the former PSV star is now ready to fight for serious minutes in one of the best teams in the entire women’s game.
Born in the small town of Bemmel in the eastern Netherlands, Buurman started playing football in the boys’ teams of her local club, SC Bemmel. Indeed, she was still playing with the boys until the summer of 2023, making her senior international debut with the Netherlands in October 2024 quite the story.
“I brought my speed and physique from the boys,” she said after that milestone. “That’s why I was able to keep up here now.”
Soon enough, she would be spotted by PSV, though she still played for Bemmel during her first year with the Dutch giants. That would have to come to an end, though, as the defender was granted her PSV debut in January 2024, aged 17.
She would only make six starts by the end of that season but, combined with her performances in the youth national teams, she had done enough to impress Andries Jonker, then the head coach of the Dutch senior side. In the summer, she earned her first call-ups for the Oranje, sitting on the bench for their final four Euro 2025 qualifiers through June and July.
Despite her talent still being quite under the radar at that point, Buurman had already attracted the attention of Chelsea, and the Blues didn’t hesitate to snap her up before anyone else. The teenager’s move to England was announced in September of last year, with PSV describing the fee involved as a record sale. Buurman was subsequently loaned back to the Dutch side for a season, too, to continue her development.
“I see this as a great opportunity,” the youngster said at the time. “It’s also important for me to keep developing so I can become an even better and more complete defender. Chelsea offers me the right opportunities and possibilities for this. It’s a fantastic club in women’s football, the champions of England. It feels like the right step to take to develop further into a player who can compete with the absolute best.”
“She has a tremendous amount of talent and, for a young player, is already very consistent and mature in her play. We were therefore not surprised when Chelsea, an absolute top club, came knocking,” Maud Roetgering, PSV’s technical director, added. “We at PSV are incredibly proud of her, because it is very special for such a young player to take such a big step.”
In the year since, Buurman has gained plenty of experience to ensure she arrives in England in a strong position to challenge for minutes. She started 21 of PSV’s 22 Eredivisie games in the 2024-25 season as the club missed out on the title in the most agonising fashion – finishing second on goal difference. Victory in the Eredivisie Cup was a high though, with Buurman scoring a dramatic, 122nd-minute equaliser to take the final to penalties before converting the decisive spot-kick.
She’s also become a key figure for the Netherlands after making her senior international debut last October. A first goal on that stage came against the United States in December and another milestone was hit this past summer, when she made the cut for Euro 2025. Buurman started two of the Netherlands’ three games in Switzerland, showing promise in her performances despite the disappointment of a group-stage exit.
One of the most impressive things about Buurman is that you wouldn’t know she was only 19 years old from watching her play. The centre-back is wise beyond her years, reading the game brilliantly to position herself in the best way to deal with any danger from the opponent. She’s strong in her duels, owing to her experience playing for so long in the boys’ teams, and has a wonderful left foot with which she can execute an eye-catching range of passes.
How she handles the big moments is equally impressive. On her Netherlands debut, in PSV’s most pressurised games and at Euro 2025, Buurman displayed wonderful calmness and composure. That’s particularly notable considering she will now be turning out for Chelsea, where the expectations are huge and the big games come thick and fast.
There are no particularly obvious weaknesses in Buurman’s game. She’s a great footballer, has a strong athletic profile and appears mentally prepared for this next step. But it is taking that leap to a new level which will be a big learning curve for her as she begins her new chapter at Chelsea.
The 19-year-old is going to be exposed to a much higher level on a consistent basis, with her set to come up against forwards better than any she has played against before. Then there is the need to adapt to new demands at Chelsea, to the higher bar set among her own team’s squad and the new environment, culture and language that comes with a first move abroad.
“Here the level is higher,” Buurman told De Vrouw Achter De Bal last month. “All the girls play at national level, so that level is just higher. It’s still taking some getting used to, but it’s getting better and better. I can see that this move is very good for my development.”
For many Chelsea fans, there will be two players in particular who come to mind when watching their new defender play for the first time. One of them is Nathalie Bjorn, who was one of the Blues’ best players in last year’s treble-winning campaign. It’s Buurman’s distribution and quality on the ball that feels particularly similar to her new Swedish team-mate.
The other, and the closer comparison overall, is Magdalena Eriksson, who spent six trophy-laden years at Chelsea and would go on to captain the club. Buurman’s reading of the game, intelligent positioning and composure under pressure is reminiscent of the Bayern Munich star.
Buurman, of course, has some way to go to get to the level of Eriksson or Bjorn yet. The next step in that journey begins on Friday, when her first season at Chelsea will officially begin, as the Blues host Manchester City in the opening game of the 2025-26 edition of the WSL. The 19-year-old will have her work cut out for her this term, as she will be competing for minutes in the heart of defence with some of the best centre-backs in the game, including Bjorn, Millie Bright and Naomi Girma.
But it’s clear that Sonia Bompastor, the Chelsea head coach with a reputation for developing young talent, believes that she is ready to take the next step and be an asset in what is an elite squad.
“For me, I would say, for a young player, she’s already quite complete,” Bompastor said of Buurman on Thursday. “She still has room for improvement and what has been good for me is that she is always keen to learn. She wants to improve. She’s demanding. After every game, after every training session, she wants to know about her performance and she loves to have some feedback from the coaches with video clips and everything. She has the right mentality and she’s going in the right direction to be one of the best in that position.”
Over the course of the next nine months, Buurman will be out to show just why in the Netherlands, and now in the blue corner of London, she is already so highly-rated.
