Bart Verbruggen has welcomed the clarity shown by his Holland boss after learning he will start at Euro 2024.

Ronald Koeman has confirmed the Albion goalkeeper will be between the sticks when the Oranje open their campaign in Germany.

He has emerged as No.1 for both club and country over recent months.

Verbruggen has been given the nod ahead of Brentford’s Mark Flekken for the Dutch, who open their campaign against Poland on June 16.

The Seagulls star said: “It’s nice for any player to have a certain degree of clarity and for me that is no different.

“You know definitively that you are going to play and you can really focus on it and prepare for it.”

Verbruggen said he was not surprised to be named as the starter by Koeman.

But he added: “It's great to get confirmation.

“The European Championships are a childhood dream come true.

“I'm grinning from ear to ear. We are going to have a great summer.”

Verbruggen had to be patient in his first Albion season but never had more than three successive games on the bench.

He started ten of the 11 matches which followed the 4-0 defeat at AS Roma in the Europa League.

Asked about rotation, he told Dutch media: “As a goalkeeper you want to play all matches, both for club and country, and that is no different for me.

“You become a footballer because you enjoy playing matches and that has not changed for me.”

He recognised playing major tournament football is a trip into the unknown but added: “In general I don’t feel pressure before competitions because you know what you can do and you have confidence in yourself.

“You get confidence from the coach, you get confidence from your team-mates so I generally go into tournaments with a lot of confidence.”

Koeman traces Verbruggen’s emergence as Holland’s first choice back to last Autumn – around the time of his clean sheet for the Seagulls against Ajax at the Johann Cruyff Arena.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of dress rehearsal friendlies versus Canada and Iceland in Rotterdam, Koeman said: “It was clear to me a few weeks ago that Bart would be the first goalkeeper.

“And that also comes from the period in October, November in which he kept in four international matches.

“In March we let both Bart and Mark play in practice matches.

“Mark did very well against Scotland but the choice of Bart was very clear to me.

“The other two are obviously disappointed but in a good way.”

Verbruggen turns 22 in August.

Koeman added: “He is now playing in the Premier League and is only getting better and he has a great future ahead of him.”