The Kitchen Champion Division has been used as a nursery for national and international talents for decades and this season too, many football players with potential are walking around on the second level. Voetbalzone, the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division, highlights one of these talents every week, this time focusing on Vicente Besuijen, who returned to the Netherlands a year ago at ADO Den Haag and now in the battle for promotion despite his young age of the experienced players in the selection.
By Chris Meijer
Vicente Besuijen moves around the Princess Irene Sports Park quite comfortably. Chat here, chat there: in the hectic pace that still grips ADO Den Haag, the only twenty-year-old attacker exudes calm. “I personally had to turn the switch. Yes, I’m honest about that. That was not easy,” confesses Besuijen, while he gazes into the distance over the artificial grass field where ADO Den Haag has just trained. He had to shake hands at the start of the preparation, because there are few players left who were already structurally part of the selection last season. Eight, to be exact. No fewer than seventeen players left ADO Den Haag after last season’s relegation. Besuijen nods and says somewhat with a sense of understatement: “It’s not easy to start a whole new group.”
Had Besuijen himself thought before his holiday that he would start the season at ADO Den Haag? “Yes,” he replies after a short silence. To reinforce his answer, he repeats the confirmation a number of times. “Of course you want to stay in the Eredivisie, that’s for sure. Yes, difficult. You want to achieve the highest as a player. I thought I would come back to ADO Den Haag after the holidays, because I have a contract. But I want to also play in the Eredivisie. That is not in my hands, I can only focus on my game. You should not focus on the hectic pace, you try to isolate yourself a little bit. If you focus on football, get you enjoy it.”
The relegation was not part of the plan that Besuijen mapped out for himself a year and a half ago in Rome. He has played in the AS Roma youth academy since 2017, which took him away from FC Volendam. After three years in the so-called Primavera – the highest youth team – he considered himself ready for the next step. “I could have stayed with AS Roma. It was only the plan to rent me out then, I didn’t like that. They had a long-term plan. I just wanted to play matches, in the Eredivisie. It was really my conscious choice to go back to the Netherlands,” says Besuijen. The fact that he decided not to renew at AS Roma only had consequences for his last year.
“If you don’t renew, they won’t let you play in your final months. Then they came up with a new offer anyway, but we weren’t on the same page. That’s annoying. Yes, annoying. That’s why I have less played in the last year. The team also thought it was weird that I didn’t play. I was with the Dutch, was always a basic player and suddenly I was wrong. Every time I had to repeat that we were negotiating. Because yes, you want the team too don’t upset by saying you have a different plan I had to go to training again and again when I had already made a plan for myself It’s pretty hard I’m pretty firm in what I say and believe in. I don’t just say something, only if I really believe in it. When I think back to that time, I come to the conclusion that I came out stronger. But it wasn’t always easy and fun. When you notice a little later Dutch top clubs, that’s what I had in mind,” he explains. Despite the fact that the last year was somewhat difficult, Besuijen looks back on his time in Rome with pleasure.
From FC Volendam to AS Roma: ‘Nainggolan really helped me on my way’
Voetbalzone spoke to Vicente Besuijen earlier when he still played at AS Roma.
“I am very young, but I have a lot of experience. Through the training sessions with the first team. That gave me the feeling faster at ADO Den Haag that I could conquer a starting spot, because at Roma I trained with Edin Dzeko, Justin (Kluivert, ed.) and El Shaarawy. I could do that too. So I came in with a little more bravado. Tactically and physically I learned a lot, how you can invest in yourself in addition to the training. You mature a little faster, that’s it. You have to go along with that level, as fast as possible. If you don’t, you will be put back. It is very quick to learn and accept. That’s how it is in Italy.” When asked about the player from whom he has learned the most, he has to think for a moment. He had a good relationship at AS Roma with Radja Nainggolan (‘Occasionally he still sends me a random message’) and Justin Kluivert. “That bond with Justin grew stronger, now and then you just have each other. Then you have to joke, facetime your friends or play on the PlayStation. Which, by the way, he’s not very good at.” Besuijen laughs. “I think he also benefited a lot from me, although he also had Rick (Karsdorp, ed.). The type of game should suit you a bit. Justin and I are the same players, so I don’t know if Roma’s game is right for us. I certainly took that into account in my decision to leave.”
But Kluivert or Nainggolan is not the player from whom Besuijen learned the most in Rome. “I think Kevin Strootman, yes”, replies Besuijen after thinking about it for a while. “Apart from the fact that I didn’t really hang out with him much. He is the first in the gym, is back in the gym after training, is being treated: things like that are outside of football, but are part of it. He always had his fruit and yogurt ready in the morning, the people there knew exactly what he wanted and when he wanted it. He was very conscious about his diet. I have gained respect for what he paid for it.” These are lessons that Besuijen, in his own words, has packed into his backpack. That backpack was also quite filled last season.
“I came as a talent and maybe not everyone expected me to play a lot, but I got a starting spot and showed what I can do here and there. I can do a lot more, but I still have… How do you say that?” Besuijen pauses for a moment to find the right word. “Showing fragments of myself. I played a nice match against Ajax and Feyenoord, in which I could show things about myself. I’m not satisfied, not that. It has been difficult, due to the hectic pace and the fact that the team was not running. But I know I can do better, so I have to claim the ball even more, make even more moves, shoot even more and set even better stats.” In a hectic year, in which ADO Den Haag eventually relegated, Besuijen had a lot to do with his faith and Gianni Zuiverloon. “He explained to me that I would only gain experience with it. I definitely needed that, kind of brother. It’s not fun, but afterwards you become stronger and wiser. You have to turn it into something positive.”
With two assists, Besuijen made a big impression last season in the 3-2 won home game against Feyenoord.
Finally, Besuijen made 31 official games for ADO Den Haag last season, in which he was good for 1 goal and 4 assists. “I am proud and happy with that number of matches. It’s a bit of experience, you notice that in certain things. Do you have time to turn away? A bit of coaching. The things that no one sees, but are there,” he responds. “I have always had fun in football. I was not reluctant to come to the club. Some days were difficult, of course. But that’s part of the sport. That also makes it beautiful. When you experience good days, you think back to those difficult days. Of course I didn’t want to be relegated, but sometimes those things happen. All I can do now is show what I can do. Then we’ll see from there.”
Perhaps because Besuijen has already experienced a year at ADO Den Haag, he lets the unrest that still grips the club slip away relatively easily. Despite his young age, he is actually one of the more experienced players in the roster. “I’m a bit of the routine. I don’t like to say that. But I have experience, yes. I think younger guys will want to listen to you because you’ve been through a whole year.” With a goal in three games and a place in the preliminary selection of the Dutch Juniors, the season has started quite well for Besuijen. His goal for the coming year is simple: “Play nice, attacking football. A lot of goals, a lot of assists, a lot of showing of me.”
Name: Vicente Besuijen
Date of birth: Apr 10, 2001
Club: Ado den Haag
Position: attacker
Strengths: speed, technique, insight
Voetbalzone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
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