Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder and Netherlands great Rafael Van der Vaart has questioned whether Ian Maatsen's decision to join Aston Villa last summer has been justified by the number of minutes and games in which he has played up to now. Maatsen agreed to join Villa from Chelsea in the summer, as the two clubs conducted business which aided their respective P&S causes; Omari Kellyman went in the opposite direction and Maatsen arrived to test Lucas Digne at left-back. The move also freed up Alex Moreno to leave in hunt of more game time. Some may have expected Maatsen, who cost around £35m, to have instantly become the club's first choice left-back but - and to the credit of Digne, who himself has reclaimed his place in the France squad - things haven't worked out how the Dutchman perhaps would've liked up to now. He has played 35 times currently, but only 11 of those have been starts and he has completed 90 minutes in the Premier League only once - that being in the recent 2-1 win over Chelsea at Villa Park. As a result of being in and out of the Villa side, Maatsen, who made the Champions League XI last term, has found himself in and out of the Netherlands squad throughout the course of the year. He did, though, play 120 minutes as the Dutch were defeated on penalties in their Nations League quarter final second leg fixture with Spain on Sunday evening - he scored in the 3-3 draw, to make it 2-2 in normal time. That followed Maatsen's goal in his last Villa outing, too - in the comfortable win over Club Brugge in the Champions League. Van der Vaart, who earned over 100 caps for the Netherlands and who played for Ajax and Real Madrid in a glittering career before turning to punditry in his retirement, has claimed that Villa has been the wrong move for Maatsen, who ought to have been playing regularly from the get go. “I think he made the wrong choice by choosing Aston Villa. He has to play, play, play,” Van der Vaart told Voetbal Primeur, via Sport Witness. “He was really good at Dortmund and then he chooses England, probably more money and they are really building something up." Van der Vaart also added that things haven't yet worked out for Maatsen's compatriot Donyell Malen, who joined the club to help beef up Unai Emery's attacking options in the January transfer window; attacker Malen joined from Borussia Dortmund but was left out of Villa's Champions League squad and has yet to truly nail down a place in the side. “It’s the same with Malen. They got him for €40m, but he’s not playing either. They haven’t even registered him for the Champions League.” How do you rate Villa's transfer business this season? Tell us HERE