Tag: Villareal

by Jan

Danjuma: one of the big guns now

A question….

I just got sent an amazing e-book on Cruyff (his death was remembered) and these stories are very cool.

I can do two things: 1) put a JC article on the blog every now and then but focus on current affairs or 2) focus on the JC articles and let the current affairs take a step back.

Any suggestions?

After this post on Danjuma, I will cover the Cup Final between Ajax and PSV.

Last year in June, Arnaut Danjuma was the guest in a tv sports show. He made a strong impression: ambitious, self critical and… outspoken. He questioned the KNVB. Did they pay attention to him? At all? Was he being following, playing for Bournemouth? What was the reason he was ignored? Could the NT manager maybe tell him what he needed to improve in order to get the call up?

There was no end to his confidence.

And not everyone could handle this swagger. Why is he playing for Bournemouth, if he is that good? Surely, we can’t take clubs like Luton Town or Bristol City or Millwall seriously? Danjuma felt invisible to the world and realised he had to make a move.

He consciously decided to go for Villareal and Unai Emery. He needed a coach who would focus on the details. Who would work on improving players tactically. He needed a “small club” with big ambitions. He used the services of one of those sports  analytics companies and came out at the Yellow Submarine for his future. So he said no to several other courters ( EPL clubs, Ligue 1 clubs, Bundesliga, PSV Eindhoven) and went to Spain. Under the radar.

By now, he’s shone at Old Trafford against Man U, he was top in the Wanda Metropolitano (v Atletico),  in the Bernabeu and the Juve Stadium. He is now a recognised European top player. Julian Nagelsmann used Danjuma as an example to explain that Bayern would not just beat Villareal.

This new status is completely the result of …himself. He took his career in his own hands (with his dad) and decided to invest in his development. He could have made way more money elsewhere. He now has a team that makes him better and he is in a team that he makes better as well. With a coach that will invest in him. Danjuma purs whenever Emery goes into detail tactically for the European opponents. After the 1-0 win over Bayern, Arnaut again explained the importance of Emery’s input.

He is the prime example of a smart player who keeps his eyes open and who invests in himself. Being able to be good with the ball doesn’t make you a good football player. At Villareal, Danjuma learns to understand and read the game and to think positionally. What do you do without the ball (which is 95% of the game for most). Arriving in the box in time, for instance. This is not talent, or touch or physical condition. This is about awareness, intelligence and “feel”.

In the run up to the Bayern clash, he said in an interview that he considers himself one of the best wingers in Europe. A big statement and without the context, a bit bigheaded? But he said more, way more, but the media ignored those other comments. For some, it’s a big much: he played Championship football until last year, he does not have a starting spot in the NT, he scored one Eredivisie goal in his career and never won a big trophy as a player.

Lets look at the wingers/forwards inthe TOp 5 competitions (EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Seria A, Ligue 1) and see which were involved in goals.

We won’t consider free kicks or penalty kicksl to make the comparison fair. Only goals from open play, in other words. Only 15 wingers were involved with 4 attemptos on goal or more, in 90 minutes of football.

The first column is the name of the player (duh!), the column “schoten” = “shots on goal” and the “Kansen gecreeerd” is “chances created”. Totaal is… well… I think you can find out for yourself :-).

The list will not surprise many people. You’d say “Salah, Sane, Messi, Gnabry, Insigne, Saka, Vinicius, Grealish, Mane” without hesitation. The PSG lads won’t surprise either. The two surprises are at the bottom of the list, with 4 “involvements” per match. Sheraldo Becker (yes!) at Union Berlin has been a surprise package in the Bundesliga and of course Arnaut Danjuma Groeneveld.

The only criticism: he does play as a central striker now as well in Emery’s fluid set ups. This is in fact in reality less the case. Like Memphis, Danjuma will prefer to come from the left with Moreno – a real striker – next to him. When Villareal has the ball, Danjuma plays more than a winger than someone like Salah.

He may be able to create more for others, but in terms of scoring, no one needs to doubt him. Only Benzema and new comer Aubameyang collect better stats.

This is not a player who is “hot” for a bit, this is a player who keeps on improving and has his eyes firmly on the statistics. It means that he’ll probably be scoring more goals next season.

There is one aspect in which Danjuma indeed is top class. He makes it into the top 5 of Europe: shots on goal after a successful dribble. You’d expect Messi to be on the list of course, but this is the current top 5.

Danjuma proves week in week out that in terms of positioning without the ball as in terms of individual dribbles and creating chances, he indeed is now amongst attacking royalty in Europe.

Would you use Danjuma as a starter?

Tell me your favority top 3 in LvG’s 3-4-1-2 system.

Mine?

Note: I do rate Gakpo and Lang as potential #10s and I have hope Schreuder will get Ihattaren back to full fitness.

 

 

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by Jan

Danjuma: My best is yet to come!

After 3 years in the wilderness, Danjuma is now Orange’s Hope in Scary Days ( Dutch expression).

VI Pro visited Danjuma in warm and smouldering Valencia, where Danjuma lives next door to Jasper Cillesen. Only a few months back, he lived in Bournemouth. Another coastal town, but one where an umbrella is always needed. He played his games in the Championship, competing against Rotherham and QPR. Now he’s one of the most valuable players in La Liga, won a MOTM award in the Champions League and he has a pool in his back yard. On top of that: he’s back in Oranje!

“I played Real Madrid already, and soon it’s Barcelona. Last year, Millwall away, now Bernabeu. But the best thing, is that my dad can follow me. He never saw me live in Bournemouth due to the Covid stuff. But he’s with me now in Valencia. He saw me live playing vs Young Boys and I gave him my shirt afterwards. He had to dry a tear or two. This is worth a lot to me.”

He’s 24 years old but has seen a lot already. Born in Nigeria, but raised in Oss. Started with the amateurs in Oss, then PSV’s academy. He went to NEC when PSV didn’t offer him a contract. After NEC he went to Belgium for Club Brugge and Bournemouth. After his last season in the Championship, he had many big clubs courting him, including Mark van Bommel’s Wolfsburg. “It was hectic, we had many conversations but the talk with Unai Emery was the best. Some clubs wanted me too badly, it became unrealistic. They would make me skipper and they promised me the world. Emery was very clear. He had followed me for 5 months and saw all my games and immediately told me how I would become a better player. He was honest and highly critical. He tested my knowledge and I realised I get happy when I talk about football with people who are more knowledgeable than me.”

“Emery said to me: you can become a very big player and Villareal can be a bigger club. Lets do this together. And I am here now, at this unique club.”

And so it is. Vila Real is a town of 50,000 people. Similar to a mid-size Dutch town. The local business man Roig decided to put 400,000 euros into the club, back in 1997. We’re 24 years further down and he has now invested 200 million in the club. And his most recent investment: a former player of Margriet in Oss.

Danjuma would become the most expensive player for the club. The vice president was the chair at the press conference introducing the left winger: “Some people by a Casio watch. Others buy a Rolex. We got ourselves a brand new Rolex!”

Danjuma laughs out loud when he thinks about it. “I sat next to him and I had no idea what he was saying. And I was dead tired. It’s been a long day and I wanted to sleep. So he was telling the world how good I was and I was sitting next to him as a big whiner hahahaha. But being the most expensive player for Villareal motivates me. If someone is happy to pay millions for me, I will do what I can to deliver.”

And he does deliver. He hasn’t been able to make his guest room in order, but after 15 official games, he’s got 7 goals and 3 assists. In terms of goal attempts, succeeded dribbles and expected goals, he is in the top of La Liga. And against Young Boys, again he got the MOTM award.

Arnaut is a fascinating kid. In now way arrogant, but very confident. When he was in the PSV academy, the coaches would ask the players about their ambitions. Most would say: play for PSV’s first team. Danjuma said: win the Champions League and win the Ballon D’Or. The coach told him to remain realistic. “Football is my life. I have done everything I can to succeed. I don’t want to say I will be the best ever or something and the chance I will win the Ballon D’Or is slim of course… But I want to do all I can to try and achieve it. I don’t mind failing, but I want to fail on my terms. All my moves were conscious ones: my move to NEC, my decision to play wingback at Brugge and at Bournemouth I was creating a more tough character. All by design, as they say in England.”

His drive was born in his youth. He didn’t have it easy. When he was young, his parents divorced and it left scars, even though Arnaut himself is not keen to discuss it in detail. But Youth Care got involved and he lived in three different foster families. In England, he told a journalist there were times when he slept in a car. “But I am not a victim. I think the drive is a family thing. My dad has it too. My brother has two master degrees and my sister has just graduated in England with honours. I have my HAVO diploma, as my dad told me I wasn’t allowed to play football if I didn’t at least get that. So I did.”

“I had it tough at PSV. When I moved to NEC, I decided to become my own master. I decided to work with my own masseur, my own nutritionist and my own physio. Tresor, a kid I used to play street football with, is also in my inner circle. We called him The Snake. And whenever I score, I celebrate to honour him . I really do have a team taking care of me, as I don’t think I would be able to do this all by myself.”

By now, opponents know who he is and at times he has double marking to deal with. “I talk with Unai about this. I need to re-invent myself all the time. Football is not just Unai’s number 1 priority. It’s also number 2 and 3, hahaha. I am the same. Did you know Unai watched 17 full matches of Man United a prep for the CL game we played against them? He is the best coach I have worked with. One example, his analysis showed I always make vertical runs. Always deep, in one direction. He instructed me to change it up. Sometimes run horizontal, from left to right. Or drop deeper and then go behind the defence. That sort of thing. He also wants me to gamble. I never liked making dummy runs, but now, when a deep ball is played to our #9, Unai wants me to gamble that the striker wins the duel. I already scored two goals as a result. He also doesn’t want me to track back. When we lose possession, two forwards stay up top. Me and another player. I love it. He uses me in my strength.”

“His pre match tactical talks are usually 1,5 hours long. And never boring. He sees everything. He comes up with things like: the goalie has bad eyes and in night games he is not as good. Shoot from distance. Or, their full back is running out of steam after 75 minutes. All these details. We ended 7 in La Liga last season, we want to end higher now.”

The lessons in the CL are harsh. We played Man United off the pitch in Manchester, but we stil lost 2-1. That guy Ronaldo scored the winner, who else? But we were really good. I did get the MOTM award. After the match, Ronald came to me and complimented me on my game. We exchanged shirts too. He’s really nice guy, actually. And he really wanted my shirt. In C Ronaldo’s home is a football jersey with my name on it, hahahaha.”

It seems Oranje ignored him in his time at Bournemouth. He himself has a different slant on it. “I started there with an injury and wasn’t a starter. That season we got relegated and I wasn’t good enough. In the Championship, I found my groove and I almost did get the invite to play for Oranje in a friendly, some time back but I just got another muscle problem and told them so, and as a result I was never invited. So there is no official record of it, but I know Zeist was following me.”

This time around, for the Gibraltar match, Danjuma almost declined the invitation! “Yes, but let me explain! I hadn’t seen my dad for a long time and we had plans for a Father-Son thing together. He’s now 74 years old and I don’t spend enough time with him. And that was in the international break. So when I got the call from Louis van Gaal I couldn’t say yes immediately. I called my dad and said: I will cancel Oranje if you want me too, because we had a prior arrangement. And my dad was: no no are you insane! Go to Oranje. I will come to the stadium and watch you play! And that was it.”

I highly enjoyed my time with Oranje. The players were amazing and I was so positively surprised with all the amazing support from throughout the country. Oranje is super special for me, to play with the best of the country. Nigeria has been chasing me too, but I really wanted to play for Oranje.”

With Van Gaal’s plans to introduce the 5 at the back again, Danjuma’s position seems solid in the squad. He played wingback many times for Brugge. “Not my favorite spot, I didn’t enjoy it much. But hey, if it’s needed, I ‘ll play. Left, right, wherever the coach needs me. I want to be important. The World Cup is a dream for me. Being good versus Gibraltar is not enough though. I know that when I play like a bag of potatoes against Montenegro or Norway everyone will forget about me. But trust me: Holland hasn’t seen me at my best yet.”

The Eleven I think Louis will field. And my prediction below that. What do you guys think?

Montenegro – The Netherlands 1-4

Danjuma, Memphis, Klaassen and Wijnaldum.

 

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by Jan

Danjuma: Van Gaal’s missing winger?

This last week, coach Ronald Koeman was in the news, as Barca Chair “finally” sacked the Dutch club legend (and in his wake: Alfred Schreuder and Henke Larsson). Also in the news, 75 year old Wim Jansen – suffering from dementia – published his biography, ans with that, some exciting stories were re-hashed in the media. Do let me know if you want me to write some stories on either topic.

For now, I wanted to focus on that other winger that impressed. I covered Noa Lang in a post, now it’s time for Arnaut Danjuma.

The 24 year old Nigerian born Dutch international – Dutch father, Nigerian mother – started his career at Top Oss but moved swiftly to PSV where he played for PSV 2 before making his move to NEC Nijmegen, where he expected a swifter break through. He managed 40 games for NEC in which he scored 12 goals and got the first attention. PSV and Feyenoord were keen to sign him but Club Brugge in Belgium was the quickest of them. He made his first Oranje appearance under Koeman in October 2018 but lost his spot when he got injured.

He went to play for EPL outfit Bournemouth in 2019 but injuries kept him sidelined more than not and Danjuma got relegated with the club in 2020. He ended up performing really well for the Cherries and scored a total of 15 goals in 47 games for them until Emry swooped him up for Villareal for close to €25K.

It does not take long, in the company of Arnaut Danjuma, to realise how highly he regards his potential. “If I need to be completely honest, and this is me being completely honest, I never thought I would play Championship in my career,” the Bournemouth forward says, “I’m used to the Champions League, not the Championship.”

Danjuma – nickname The Cobra – talks like he plays: a winger with wonderful talent and ability complemented by extreme self-confidence which sees him attempt, and often execute, the audacious.

Danjuma – who had an unthinkable tough childhood – spoke of a desire to return to Europe’s elite competition and prove he is among the world’s best players. His two appearances in the Champions League came for Belgium’s Club Brugge in the 2018 group stage, both ending in defeat to Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid, whom he scored against. With Villareal, he was able to prove his mettle once again, particularly in the away match vs Man United.

Danjuma uses his past to help him perform. “When I go into a game I always get my mentality back to where I started because I don’t want to get used to being satisfied,” he says.

The story begins in Lagos, Nigeria, where he was born but Danjuma doesn’t remember much apart from his grandma’s house and regularly being late for dinner due to playing football in the streets. The true beginning came in 2001, at the age of four, when Danjuma’s parents, mum Hauwa and dad Cees, divorced in the same year they moved to Oss, in the south of Holland.

Danjuma doesn’t remember why but they ended up homeless for two weeks around a year after arriving in Europe. Along with his brother Reinier and sister Lisette, the then five-year-old and his mum would often end up sleeping in their car.

“I was a bit older, around five or six,” Danjuma says. “There was a brief period when we had no place to live, which obviously was very tough and, on the back of it, might sound weird but I’m grateful I went through it.

“For my mum, it was very difficult but she’s a very strong lady. I’ve never met anyone as strong as her, especially if you come from a different country like Nigeria to the Netherlands, don’t speak the language and are foreign. It is difficult, it’s tough. She had three children to take care of.

“It was a very difficult period for her but I always respect the way she dealt with it and she always provided for me and the whole family where she could. It really inspires me, having a mother like her, because it showed me the world is tough out there and if you want to survive you should always fight back, always take courage in changing your own destiny.”

Circumstances saw Danjuma and his siblings put into foster care. He doesn’t recall why but remembers clearly the difficulty it brought, comparing the period to time spent living on the streets. His foster family wouldn’t take him to play football, the sport he had grown to love since the age of four.

“It was tough because you’re not with your parents and you see all other kids living with their parents. It was difficult for me because the only thing I wanted to do was play football,” Danjuma says. “They weren’t willing to bring me to training so I got really annoyed by that. But my father luckily came all the way to the foster family, picked me up and took me to football, and then brought me back to them and went back to his place. I was lucky that my father still took charge of everything because otherwise it would have been very difficult for me.”

Cees remains an influential figure. They speak before every game and Danjuma describes his father as a “football fanatic”. “I’m not even exaggerating,” he says. “If he feels I have performed bad or the club is losing, he won’t sleep.”

Danjuma joined Top Oss, his first professional club, aged 11 in 2008, the same year a court ruled he could leave foster care and live with his father. Within weeks, he had joined PSV Eindhoven where he remained until 2016.

Through the years in the academy, he saw the benefits of his unthinkable upbringing by observing others. “There are a lot of players who have a lot of luxuries at a young age and it kills them,” he says. “I’ve seen so many talented players that didn’t make it in the end because of luxury. I’ve seen it with my own eyes because I went through it in the same period and didn’t have the same luxury as them, but in the end I scored my goal in the Champions League and they didn’t.”

His debut in Europe’s elite competition came elsewhere in the end. “At the time, my dream was to play first team and make my debut there but it fell apart because I got a bit impatient and didn’t think I got the respect I deserved at the club and tried my luck elsewhere,” Danjuma says.

He spent two years with NEC Nijmegen and then moved to Club Brugge in 2018 which was when Milan made a move. “Six months earlier I played in Holland so when AC Milan came through with an offer and bid I told the club straight away I want to move, I want to go to AC Milan which is a massive club, massive history, and at the time a very good step for me,” Danjuma recalls.

Danjuma’s personal ambitions mean he is determined to take Villareal back to the top in Spain, particularly with the Madrid clubs and Barca stumbling a bit. But he also has his eye on the international arena.

He made his come back in orange after three years. “I am so happy that I’m back and I knew for 100% certain that I would make it. I may have been off the radar a bit with Bournemouth so I decided to move up a notch.” Asked if he was happy to perform on the right wing for The Netherlands, as opposed to the left: “My preference is the left, I won’t lie, but if the coach want me to play on the right, I will. When Van Gaal tells me to be the goalie, I will be the goalie. But left winger has my preference.”

By now, we are all getting accustomed to the intelligence and wit of the winger. He was already known to be a walking football encyclopedia. He follows everything and even has his own data-service, which he devours week by week to learn, to develop and set new goals. He also has quick and dry wit. Asked if he new about Van Gaal lamenting that there weren’t many good wingers, he responded: “Was he lamenting? Well so was I. I was lamenting that I wasn’t called up.”

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