I’d start him every game tbh, he is gradually improving and rn by the looks of it that scenario of DeLigt - Chiellini starting together as a pair might not be that far off, it’s inevitably going to happen soon enough IMO and might very well be the key to us regaining some of the defensive solidity that we’ve again lost lately.
Interview
“First of all, welcome, thank you for speaking with us. I was chasing you for about seven months, but it wasn’t easy getting an appointment. I think Juventus’ PR department is very careful with foreign player, do you think so too?
MdL: “I think they’re careful with media in general. At Ajax, it was normal to discuss something with a newspaper three times a week, it was obligatory. Here they’d rather have it as little as possible. I think I’ve had two interviews so far, this is the third. It was about time.”
“We’re sitting here shortly after the match against Lyon. You didn’t come out of it completely unscathed, how are you doing?”
MdL: “My head is fine. I got a kick to my stomach and my head, and the head’s actually doing pretty well. During the game I didn’t even feel it, so that wasn’t that bad. On my stomach there’s a few annoying scratches, but it’s fine.”
“It doesn’t bother you? Cause you have a big band aid on your head. Was it stitched?”
MdL: “Yeah, three stitches.”
"During the game?”
MdL: “During the break”
“So we’re here right before the derby [with Inter Milan] in a city that, as the Italians say it, has gotten obsessed by the Corona virus, which they don’t fully understand. Have you also experienced this?”
MdL: “Well, obsessed? Of course it’s on everyone’s minds, it gets talked about a lot, you sometimes see people wearing masks in the street. But I think it’s mainly the panic that it’s suddenly here from China, and it’s something unknown, and of course of lot it gets blown up after there’s another death, it all goes so quickly with social media. I think it’s important not to panic too much and, as we were advised too, just do the things you always do. Of course there’s some thing you shouldn’t do or risk -“
“Like what?”
MdL: “For instance going to crowded places too often, it’s better not to risk it. So we avoid that, but we mainly just try to live our lives.”
"How does the club deal with it. Do you get any guidance or is it just left up to you and your girlfriend?”
MdL: “We got a presentation, about certain statistics and how you can deal with it. This gave everyone a bit more clarity and peace. When you read the first news about it, it often turns into panic, but I think it’s important to just stay calm and do what you always do.”
“The Piemonte regional council said: ‘The match? It’s total rubbish to play it without supporters, there’s only one infection in the city and two outside of it’, and they want to play it with a crowd. That’s something that the players of Juventus must agree with.”
MdL: “Certainly, you play football for the supporters, and the excitement here about such a match it huge, so of course you’d rather play with the fans there. I think it’s still uncertain whether we’ll play with or without supporters, so we’ll have to wait, but it seems clear to me we all want them to be there.”
“Have you ever played a match without supporters?”
“Let me think. No, I don’t think so.”
“And you can’t picture it.”
“No I can’t to be honest. It would be weird to be able to hear everyone’s voices and instructions, which you normally can’t-“
“There must be a lot of echo too.”
MdL: “There is. And when you score, you’re all celebrating together but not with the fans. Seems weird.”
“Like a training match.”
MdL: “Yeah, and that shouldn’t be the case with such a big game.”
“Something else which shouldn’t be underestimated: you are very strong at home. You’ve only dropped two points in all your home games this season. So you also need the crowd.”
MdL: “For sure. Like you say, we’ve only dropped two points at home, so we’re doing well. Sadly, we need to try to reach that level more in away games, but at home it’s generally going well. Of course Inter is a very strong opponent, and it will be a difficult game, but we’re fully confident that we’ll get a good result at home.”
“Could I say that you’ve managed to find your way in Italy these last months?”
MdL: “Yeah I think so. The first two, three months it was hard, getting used to everything, a lot of people looking at you and big expectations, and the differences with Ajax. But since the start of November, I think I’ve reached a good level in every match I’ve played, and I’m happy with how it’s going and the support I get from the club.”
“Still I wonder: do they have a plan for you at the start of the season? Do they tell you ‘keep this and that in mind, we’re going to use you this way’? How did that go?
MdL: “Yeah, there’s definitely a plan. At the start of the season it was clear that last year with Ajax was incredible, but this is something very different. You have players here like Bonucci and Chiellini, who for nine years here at Juventus have won everything, who know what everything’s about and know the club. So you don’t just get a spot in the starting line-up, and they told me: ‘you’re already a great player, but learn from these guys. We’re going to need you this season no matter what, and it’s important to have depth and width in your squad, and that I’m there as a young player’.
“So when there’s articles, like against Brescia or SPAL, about how you’re on the bench and everyone thinks you’re not doing well and should never have chosen for Juventus… you’re already smirking.”
MdL: “I think that’s part of being at Juventus, compared to different top clubs in Europe. Dutch people mainly watch the Premier League or Barcelona, and they don’t watch Juventus as much. But I don’t worry about it so much, at one point I was a bench player for a while. Also at the time I had the shoulder injury which also caused some groin injuries and stopped me from giving my all during training. So I talked to the trainer and he said: ‘listen, just take it easy, we need you later on in the season, we need you fully fit, so just stay calm’. So I stay calm, but for the Dutch people it’s like: ‘oh he’s not playing, he’s not playing, what’s happening?’
“And they immediately come to conclusions which might not be right. But there must’ve been moments where you thought: ‘okay, the football here is very different from what I’m used to, is this the kind of football I enjoy?’ When I see you playing in less risky way, I also remember the De Ligt of last year, who was very quick to play it vertically, always looked for Frankie [de Jong] and to keep playing the ball. Do you feel like this too, or do you think: ‘I’m learning to play in a different way and use that to improve’?
MdL: “Yeah that’s what I try. I do think my role at Ajax gets romanticized a bit. Like you say, Frenkie, Daley [Blind] and me were important for the build up, and I was the one who did the least. I was more about keeping the balance, keeping the defensive shape and defending turnovers. That’s also what I’m doing now. But when you look at the game against Lyon, you see the Champions League is very different from the Serie A. The Serie A is very tactical, while the Champions League is more technical and physical. And in a game like yesterday, I can defend much further up the pitch. Maybe that’s more my style, but that’s also why it’s important that I learn the other style, and develop and improve myself. Of course it’s difficult at the beginning, but it’s going better and better.”
"And then at the start of the season, and later on also a few times, like against Atletico Madrid, I see you go into the duels in such a hard way. Is that a conscious decision or is it just part of your character?”
MdL: “I think it’s part of my character, I often had moments like that at Ajax too. Although I must say that the first few months in Italy, I might’ve gone a bit too far. I analyzed myself and I came to that conclusion. I’m also a player who relies on reading the game, and if you have to make a [slide] tackle, you’re actually too late, and I noticed that I was making a lot of sliding tackles. And I thought: ‘I never made tackles like that at Ajax’, so I worked on that. But it’s also important here to let people know you won’t be pushed around.”
“Do you analyze that yourself or do you have people around you who’ll analyze it with you?”
MdL: “I have people around me, for sure, but it changes. It could be with Barry Hulshoff [De Ligt’s former agent and former Ajax player who passed away in February]. My girlfriend, AnneKee [Molenaar] also told me, she noticed too. So then you start thinking about and you’re like ‘yeah, she’s right’.”
“You talk about Barry Hulshoff, who played an important role in your career. And then there’s suddenly this void. Did that have a big impact on you?”
MdL: “Of course. We always got along very well and I knew he wasn’t doing well, which I don’t think was common knowledge. But I knew, and we still kept in touch a lot, but it also got less because his health kept deteriorating. Of course it hurt me a lot, but it was also expected.”
“Did he have an influence on your decision to go to Italy, to a country where you could improve as a defender?”
MdL: “Yeah, we often talked about the choices, about the pros and cons, and he certainly had an influence. Funnily enough, I once asked him: ‘you played for Ajax almost your whole career, did you never get the chance to go to a different club?’, and he told me he could’ve gone to Juventus, but back then the borders were still closed, and he was a bit bummed about that. So it’s kinda funny that I do get to play for Juventus.”
“Now, once and for all: did Ronaldo asking you to join Juventus after the Nations League final play a part in your decision?”
MdL: “Of course it’s great when someone like him says that. The star of the team, someone who’s played at the top for years and was also an example for me when I was young. When he says that, it does make you think. Juventus was already a possibility for me, it didn’t suddenly become an option, but of course it’s a great feeling.”
“Because there were actually only two offers right? Only Juventus and PSG?”
MdL: “Barcelona was also interested.”
“Serious interest, or did they just not want to pay as much for you as Juventus did?”
MdL: “I just weighed all my options, and I felt like Juventus would be the next step for me, where I could develop the best and become a more complete player.”
“And how does it feel now, after seven months, also with living here? Did you make the right decision?”
MdL: “For sure. I’m very happy here, very satisfied. It’s very gezellig with my girlfriend, we have two smalls dogs too. And the football, I can notice it during training too, the level is incredibly high; whether you’re playing against Ronaldo, Higuain or Dybala, the level is so high and you’re constantly tested. You enjoy that as a player and you notice yourself getting better. In the beginning you tend to compare things with Ajax, ‘at Ajax it was like this, at Juventus it’s like that’, but eventually you just have to look at what you have now. And when I look at the guys I train with, the competition I play in, because Serie A is a very strong competition where every game is tough, I’m very happy with my decision.”
“Do you keep in touch with some of the guys from Ajax, like Frenkie for instance? He plays with Messi, you with Ronaldo, which is also kinda bizarre when you think about it.”
MdL: “Yeah it is. I still talk with Frenkie frequently, with Daley too and Carel Eiting as well. I still speak most of the guys. And of course with Frenkie, him at Barcelona with Messi and me with Ronaldo, it’s funny to see. When you think about it, two years ago we were still playing with Jong Ajax.” [note: it’s actually three years ago]
“Apart from playing, with the admiration you have for the athlete and insane goal factory that is Cristiano Ronaldo, do you have a lot of contact off the pitch? Or is he more of an individual entity?”
MdL: “Well, here at Juventus you have a lot of older players. Which also means families, other activities. At Ajax, most of us were in our twenties, when you came home you were alone, so you went out to have lunch together. It’s different here, everyone has their own family, has to pick up their kids from school, and me as a 20-year old youngster, I don’t have kids to pick up. At the club, where very close, but outside of it, we sometimes have dinner together, but after training you’re not just gonna chill with someone.”
“Not like at Ajax, where you spend a lot of time together in your private life.”
MdL: “No, not really.”
“Are there any players who you have more contact with?”
MdL: “Ramsey, who’s also new of course. We both didn’t speak Italian at first, he spoke English, my English is pretty good, so it was nice to have someone like that to talk to. Chiellini helped me a lot in the beginning-“
“He speaks English too.”
MdL: “He does.”
“So Sarri speaks English when he explains things to you.”
MdL: “Mostly Italian, but I understand him.”
“Communication really is something though. I had it too when I first came to Italy in the late 80s, I needed to learn Italian very quickly otherwise nobody would understand me. You must’ve noticed that too?”
MdL: “Yeah, especially the first week I joined, we went to China, South Korea and Singapore. Everyone’s speaking Italian, so there you are at the dinner table, thinking to yourself: ‘this is gonna be a long week.’ After that, me and my girlfriend took as many lessons as possible while I still had the time. Now we don’t take as many lessons anymore, because of my busy schedule. And I can understand most things now, so you get a bit lazy. Soon I’ll have to pick it up again, but right now I can handle myself just fine and on the pitch it’s not a problem.”
“And there’s someone else helping you, one of rival Inter’s veteran players: Stefan de Vrij”
MdL: “Yes, Steef.”
“How did that come about? You know each other from the Dutch national team?”
MdL: “Me and Steef have always gotten along very well. When I first joined the Dutch squad, as a 17-year old, he was immediately the one to sit next to me in the bus, talk to me and discuss things, and we’ve really bonded. That makes it so nice that Milan and Turin are so close, so now the bond is even stronger and we see each other regularly.”
“Families together too?”
MdL: “Yeah, sometimes with our girlfriends. Recently, along with Marten de Roon and his girlfriend, we went to a concert by Ludovico Einaudi in Milan. It’s nice to see us Dutchies walking through Italy together.”
“Lazio right now is a dark horse, right?”
MdL: “They’re doing well. They have a great team spirit as well as individual quality, with players like Immobile and Milinkovic-Savic, their entire midfield. They have a lot of quality, and they’re just a very good team.”
“And back to Stefan: do you ever talk about how nice it would be to play in the Dutch squad together, which would mean changing the entire system to play with three at the back. A lot of ‘experts’ and opinionated people tend to talk about it. Do you guys too?”
MdL: “Sometimes, but it’s not really important. We’re just very good friends who enjoy being at the Dutch squad together. It’s never like ‘I should be playing’ or ‘he should be playing’.”
“He can live with kind of being your stand-in?”
MdL: “Stefan is a great defender, one of the best in the Serie A. But we have Virgil [van Dijk], probably the best defender in the world at the moment, and then you have me and Steef ‘competing’ for a spot. But we don’t look at it that way, we have a great friendship, and it’s up to the coach to decide who plays.”
“Would I be wrong in saying that such feelings are fitting for the entire Dutch squad at the moment?”
MdL: “No you wouldn’t. We have a very good group that knows the role of the players, and I think that’s a big strength. We should keep it that way.”
“Do you sometimes look ahead at the summer?”
MdL: “It’s something you think about. The season is long, we still have so many prizes to play for, but after that is the European Championship. Of course you think about it sometimes, but right now, the focus is fully on the competitions you are playing.”
“When you keep in touch with your friends in Amsterdam, have they been making fun of all your handballs? Because I, as a commentator, didn’t understand it anymore at one point. I was wondering if you had a magnet in your arms, how else could it happen every time?”
MdL: “It was really bizarre, especially now that it hasn’t happened in the last 20 games. In six games, there were five moments where the ball touched my arm, and I also asked myself: ‘how is this happening? Is it me? Am I that unlucky?’ But yeah, it happened, and luckily it hasn’t happened since. I heard plenty of jokes that I should play basketball or volleyball. When you see the funny side of it, you can deal with it well. Once you start beating yourself up about it, it starts working against you. But it wasn’t the best way to start.”
"How do you deal with setbacks so easily?”
MdL: “Part of it is age, I think. I’m still young, and even though you want to play every game, do everything right and improve, the first game I was a substitute behind Bonucci and Chiellini. I could’ve thought: ‘that sucks’, or I could think: ‘I’m twenty, I need to learn from this so that, by the time I reach their age, I’ll be at the top.’ That’s what inspires me, to make sure that at that age, I need to have all the experience to be the best.
“Is all of that just you, or also the people around you coaching you? Because it’s quite something, despite all the pressure and opinions, every week now I see you perform as a top defender in the Serie A.”
MdL: “Of course it’s also the people around you. The way your raised and the people next to you are very important, when you have people who tell the truth but also tell you ‘you’ll do better next time’. That’s most important. Right now I’m very supported, which is a great help.
What’s mainly important is to be relaxed outside of football. Especially at first, I was anxious to go to crowded places. But eventually I found my rhythm, and sometimes now I just go for a walk in the park to clear my head.”
“I remember players like Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit seeking out someone like Ted Troost, a haptonomist, to help them relax. But you don’t need someone like that?”
MdL: “When things weren’t going as well, you think about it. I red a lot about psychology, and me and Stefan often talk about it, and I started looking at things I could do to improve it. But now I feel more relaxed. Like I said: I go for a walk, I’m here with my girlfriend and our two dogs, sometimes my family visits us. So now I have found ways to calm down, and it helps me as a player too. I feel more calm on the pitch, which is most important.
“And you’re gonna become even better?”
MdL: “That’s the goal.”
“First of all, welcome, thank you for speaking with us. I was chasing you for about seven months, but it wasn’t easy getting an appointment. I think Juventus’ PR department is very careful with foreign player, do you think so too?
MdL: “I think they’re careful with media in general. At Ajax, it was normal to discuss something with a newspaper three times a week, it was obligatory. Here they’d rather have it as little as possible. I think I’ve had two interviews so far, this is the third. It was about time.”
“We’re sitting here shortly after the match against Lyon. You didn’t come out of it completely unscathed, how are you doing?”
MdL: “My head is fine. I got a kick to my stomach and my head, and the head’s actually doing pretty well. During the game I didn’t even feel it, so that wasn’t that bad. On my stomach there’s a few annoying scratches, but it’s fine.”
“It doesn’t bother you? Cause you have a big band aid on your head. Was it stitched?”
MdL: “Yeah, three stitches.”
"During the game?”
MdL: “During the break”
“So we’re here right before the derby [with Inter Milan] in a city that, as the Italians say it, has gotten obsessed by the Corona virus, which they don’t fully understand. Have you also experienced this?”
MdL: “Well, obsessed? Of course it’s on everyone’s minds, it gets talked about a lot, you sometimes see people wearing masks in the street. But I think it’s mainly the panic that it’s suddenly here from China, and it’s something unknown, and of course of lot it gets blown up after there’s another death, it all goes so quickly with social media. I think it’s important not to panic too much and, as we were advised too, just do the things you always do. Of course there’s some thing you shouldn’t do or risk -“
“Like what?”
MdL: “For instance going to crowded places too often, it’s better not to risk it. So we avoid that, but we mainly just try to live our lives.”
"How does the club deal with it. Do you get any guidance or is it just left up to you and your girlfriend?”
MdL: “We got a presentation, about certain statistics and how you can deal with it. This gave everyone a bit more clarity and peace. When you read the first news about it, it often turns into panic, but I think it’s important to just stay calm and do what you always do.”
“The Piemonte regional council said: ‘The match? It’s total rubbish to play it without supporters, there’s only one infection in the city and two outside of it’, and they want to play it with a crowd. That’s something that the players of Juventus must agree with.”
MdL: “Certainly, you play football for the supporters, and the excitement here about such a match it huge, so of course you’d rather play with the fans there. I think it’s still uncertain whether we’ll play with or without supporters, so we’ll have to wait, but it seems clear to me we all want them to be there.”
“Have you ever played a match without supporters?”
“Let me think. No, I don’t think so.”
“And you can’t picture it.”
“No I can’t to be honest. It would be weird to be able to hear everyone’s voices and instructions, which you normally can’t-“
“There must be a lot of echo too.”
MdL: “There is. And when you score, you’re all celebrating together but not with the fans. Seems weird.”
“Like a training match.”
MdL: “Yeah, and that shouldn’t be the case with such a big game.”
“Something else which shouldn’t be underestimated: you are very strong at home. You’ve only dropped two points in all your home games this season. So you also need the crowd.”
MdL: “For sure. Like you say, we’ve only dropped two points at home, so we’re doing well. Sadly, we need to try to reach that level more in away games, but at home it’s generally going well. Of course Inter is a very strong opponent, and it will be a difficult game, but we’re fully confident that we’ll get a good result at home.”
“Could I say that you’ve managed to find your way in Italy these last months?”
MdL: “Yeah I think so. The first two, three months it was hard, getting used to everything, a lot of people looking at you and big expectations, and the differences with Ajax. But since the start of November, I think I’ve reached a good level in every match I’ve played, and I’m happy with how it’s going and the support I get from the club.”
“Still I wonder: do they have a plan for you at the start of the season? Do they tell you ‘keep this and that in mind, we’re going to use you this way’? How did that go?
MdL: “Yeah, there’s definitely a plan. At the start of the season it was clear that last year with Ajax was incredible, but this is something very different. You have players here like Bonucci and Chiellini, who for nine years here at Juventus have won everything, who know what everything’s about and know the club. So you don’t just get a spot in the starting line-up, and they told me: ‘you’re already a great player, but learn from these guys. We’re going to need you this season no matter what, and it’s important to have depth and width in your squad, and that I’m there as a young player’.
“So when there’s articles, like against Brescia or SPAL, about how you’re on the bench and everyone thinks you’re not doing well and should never have chosen for Juventus… you’re already smirking.”
MdL: “I think that’s part of being at Juventus, compared to different top clubs in Europe. Dutch people mainly watch the Premier League or Barcelona, and they don’t watch Juventus as much. But I don’t worry about it so much, at one point I was a bench player for a while. Also at the time I had the shoulder injury which also caused some groin injuries and stopped me from giving my all during training. So I talked to the trainer and he said: ‘listen, just take it easy, we need you later on in the season, we need you fully fit, so just stay calm’. So I stay calm, but for the Dutch people it’s like: ‘oh he’s not playing, he’s not playing, what’s happening?’
“And they immediately come to conclusions which might not be right. But there must’ve been moments where you thought: ‘okay, the football here is very different from what I’m used to, is this the kind of football I enjoy?’ When I see you playing in less risky way, I also remember the De Ligt of last year, who was very quick to play it vertically, always looked for Frankie [de Jong] and to keep playing the ball. Do you feel like this too, or do you think: ‘I’m learning to play in a different way and use that to improve’?
MdL: “Yeah that’s what I try. I do think my role at Ajax gets romanticized a bit. Like you say, Frenkie, Daley [Blind] and me were important for the build up, and I was the one who did the least. I was more about keeping the balance, keeping the defensive shape and defending turnovers. That’s also what I’m doing now. But when you look at the game against Lyon, you see the Champions League is very different from the Serie A. The Serie A is very tactical, while the Champions League is more technical and physical. And in a game like yesterday, I can defend much further up the pitch. Maybe that’s more my style, but that’s also why it’s important that I learn the other style, and develop and improve myself. Of course it’s difficult at the beginning, but it’s going better and better.”
"And then at the start of the season, and later on also a few times, like against Atletico Madrid, I see you go into the duels in such a hard way. Is that a conscious decision or is it just part of your character?”
MdL: “I think it’s part of my character, I often had moments like that at Ajax too. Although I must say that the first few months in Italy, I might’ve gone a bit too far. I analyzed myself and I came to that conclusion. I’m also a player who relies on reading the game, and if you have to make a [slide] tackle, you’re actually too late, and I noticed that I was making a lot of sliding tackles. And I thought: ‘I never made tackles like that at Ajax’, so I worked on that. But it’s also important here to let people know you won’t be pushed around.”
“Do you analyze that yourself or do you have people around you who’ll analyze it with you?”
MdL: “I have people around me, for sure, but it changes. It could be with Barry Hulshoff [De Ligt’s former agent and former Ajax player who passed away in February]. My girlfriend, AnneKee [Molenaar] also told me, she noticed too. So then you start thinking about and you’re like ‘yeah, she’s right’.”
“You talk about Barry Hulshoff, who played an important role in your career. And then there’s suddenly this void. Did that have a big impact on you?”
MdL: “Of course. We always got along very well and I knew he wasn’t doing well, which I don’t think was common knowledge. But I knew, and we still kept in touch a lot, but it also got less because his health kept deteriorating. Of course it hurt me a lot, but it was also expected.”
“Did he have an influence on your decision to go to Italy, to a country where you could improve as a defender?”
MdL: “Yeah, we often talked about the choices, about the pros and cons, and he certainly had an influence. Funnily enough, I once asked him: ‘you played for Ajax almost your whole career, did you never get the chance to go to a different club?’, and he told me he could’ve gone to Juventus, but back then the borders were still closed, and he was a bit bummed about that. So it’s kinda funny that I do get to play for Juventus.”
“Now, once and for all: did Ronaldo asking you to join Juventus after the Nations League final play a part in your decision?”
MdL: “Of course it’s great when someone like him says that. The star of the team, someone who’s played at the top for years and was also an example for me when I was young. When he says that, it does make you think. Juventus was already a possibility for me, it didn’t suddenly become an option, but of course it’s a great feeling.”
“Because there were actually only two offers right? Only Juventus and PSG?”
MdL: “Barcelona was also interested.”
“Serious interest, or did they just not want to pay as much for you as Juventus did?”
MdL: “I just weighed all my options, and I felt like Juventus would be the next step for me, where I could develop the best and become a more complete player.”
“And how does it feel now, after seven months, also with living here? Did you make the right decision?”
MdL: “For sure. I’m very happy here, very satisfied. It’s very gezellig with my girlfriend, we have two smalls dogs too. And the football, I can notice it during training too, the level is incredibly high; whether you’re playing against Ronaldo, Higuain or Dybala, the level is so high and you’re constantly tested. You enjoy that as a player and you notice yourself getting better. In the beginning you tend to compare things with Ajax, ‘at Ajax it was like this, at Juventus it’s like that’, but eventually you just have to look at what you have now. And when I look at the guys I train with, the competition I play in, because Serie A is a very strong competition where every game is tough, I’m very happy with my decision.”
“Do you keep in touch with some of the guys from Ajax, like Frenkie for instance? He plays with Messi, you with Ronaldo, which is also kinda bizarre when you think about it.”
MdL: “Yeah it is. I still talk with Frenkie frequently, with Daley too and Carel Eiting as well. I still speak most of the guys. And of course with Frenkie, him at Barcelona with Messi and me with Ronaldo, it’s funny to see. When you think about it, two years ago we were still playing with Jong Ajax.” [note: it’s actually three years ago]
“Apart from playing, with the admiration you have for the athlete and insane goal factory that is Cristiano Ronaldo, do you have a lot of contact off the pitch? Or is he more of an individual entity?”
MdL: “Well, here at Juventus you have a lot of older players. Which also means families, other activities. At Ajax, most of us were in our twenties, when you came home you were alone, so you went out to have lunch together. It’s different here, everyone has their own family, has to pick up their kids from school, and me as a 20-year old youngster, I don’t have kids to pick up. At the club, where very close, but outside of it, we sometimes have dinner together, but after training you’re not just gonna chill with someone.”
“Not like at Ajax, where you spend a lot of time together in your private life.”
MdL: “No, not really.”
“Are there any players who you have more contact with?”
MdL: “Ramsey, who’s also new of course. We both didn’t speak Italian at first, he spoke English, my English is pretty good, so it was nice to have someone like that to talk to. Chiellini helped me a lot in the beginning-“
“He speaks English too.”
MdL: “He does.”
“So Sarri speaks English when he explains things to you.”
MdL: “Mostly Italian, but I understand him.”
“Communication really is something though. I had it too when I first came to Italy in the late 80s, I needed to learn Italian very quickly otherwise nobody would understand me. You must’ve noticed that too?”
MdL: “Yeah, especially the first week I joined, we went to China, South Korea and Singapore. Everyone’s speaking Italian, so there you are at the dinner table, thinking to yourself: ‘this is gonna be a long week.’ After that, me and my girlfriend took as many lessons as possible while I still had the time. Now we don’t take as many lessons anymore, because of my busy schedule. And I can understand most things now, so you get a bit lazy. Soon I’ll have to pick it up again, but right now I can handle myself just fine and on the pitch it’s not a problem.”
“And there’s someone else helping you, one of rival Inter’s veteran players: Stefan de Vrij”
MdL: “Yes, Steef.”
“How did that come about? You know each other from the Dutch national team?”
MdL: “Me and Steef have always gotten along very well. When I first joined the Dutch squad, as a 17-year old, he was immediately the one to sit next to me in the bus, talk to me and discuss things, and we’ve really bonded. That makes it so nice that Milan and Turin are so close, so now the bond is even stronger and we see each other regularly.”
“Families together too?”
MdL: “Yeah, sometimes with our girlfriends. Recently, along with Marten de Roon and his girlfriend, we went to a concert by Ludovico Einaudi in Milan. It’s nice to see us Dutchies walking through Italy together.”
“Lazio right now is a dark horse, right?”
MdL: “They’re doing well. They have a great team spirit as well as individual quality, with players like Immobile and Milinkovic-Savic, their entire midfield. They have a lot of quality, and they’re just a very good team.”
“And back to Stefan: do you ever talk about how nice it would be to play in the Dutch squad together, which would mean changing the entire system to play with three at the back. A lot of ‘experts’ and opinionated people tend to talk about it. Do you guys too?”
MdL: “Sometimes, but it’s not really important. We’re just very good friends who enjoy being at the Dutch squad together. It’s never like ‘I should be playing’ or ‘he should be playing’.”
“He can live with kind of being your stand-in?”
MdL: “Stefan is a great defender, one of the best in the Serie A. But we have Virgil [van Dijk], probably the best defender in the world at the moment, and then you have me and Steef ‘competing’ for a spot. But we don’t look at it that way, we have a great friendship, and it’s up to the coach to decide who plays.”
“Would I be wrong in saying that such feelings are fitting for the entire Dutch squad at the moment?”
MdL: “No you wouldn’t. We have a very good group that knows the role of the players, and I think that’s a big strength. We should keep it that way.”
“Do you sometimes look ahead at the summer?”
MdL: “It’s something you think about. The season is long, we still have so many prizes to play for, but after that is the European Championship. Of course you think about it sometimes, but right now, the focus is fully on the competitions you are playing.”
“When you keep in touch with your friends in Amsterdam, have they been making fun of all your handballs? Because I, as a commentator, didn’t understand it anymore at one point. I was wondering if you had a magnet in your arms, how else could it happen every time?”
MdL: “It was really bizarre, especially now that it hasn’t happened in the last 20 games. In six games, there were five moments where the ball touched my arm, and I also asked myself: ‘how is this happening? Is it me? Am I that unlucky?’ But yeah, it happened, and luckily it hasn’t happened since. I heard plenty of jokes that I should play basketball or volleyball. When you see the funny side of it, you can deal with it well. Once you start beating yourself up about it, it starts working against you. But it wasn’t the best way to start.”
"How do you deal with setbacks so easily?”
MdL: “Part of it is age, I think. I’m still young, and even though you want to play every game, do everything right and improve, the first game I was a substitute behind Bonucci and Chiellini. I could’ve thought: ‘that sucks’, or I could think: ‘I’m twenty, I need to learn from this so that, by the time I reach their age, I’ll be at the top.’ That’s what inspires me, to make sure that at that age, I need to have all the experience to be the best.
“Is all of that just you, or also the people around you coaching you? Because it’s quite something, despite all the pressure and opinions, every week now I see you perform as a top defender in the Serie A.”
MdL: “Of course it’s also the people around you. The way your raised and the people next to you are very important, when you have people who tell the truth but also tell you ‘you’ll do better next time’. That’s most important. Right now I’m very supported, which is a great help.
What’s mainly important is to be relaxed outside of football. Especially at first, I was anxious to go to crowded places. But eventually I found my rhythm, and sometimes now I just go for a walk in the park to clear my head.”
“I remember players like Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit seeking out someone like Ted Troost, a haptonomist, to help them relax. But you don’t need someone like that?”
MdL: “When things weren’t going as well, you think about it. I red a lot about psychology, and me and Stefan often talk about it, and I started looking at things I could do to improve it. But now I feel more relaxed. Like I said: I go for a walk, I’m here with my girlfriend and our two dogs, sometimes my family visits us. So now I have found ways to calm down, and it helps me as a player too. I feel more calm on the pitch, which is most important.
“And you’re gonna become even better?”
MdL: “That’s the goal.”
