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 Youri Regeer, the captain of Jong Ajax who is trying to play himself on the radar of the first team.
By Chris Meijer
The four youngest young Ajax debutants? Youri Regeer certainly knows that he is number four on this list. He was 16 years, 6 months and 3 days when he was suddenly put in the starting eleven by trainer Mitchell van der Gaag in February 2020 in the 0-2 win against Helmond Sport. But the other three? “Amourricho from Axel Dongen?”, Regeer tries first. Van Axel Dongen is number five on this list, as he was a month older than Regeer when he made his debut last season. “Naci and Ryan, I think.” Ryan Gravenberch – at 16 years, 3 months and 8 days the youngest debutant ever – and Naci Ünüvar are indeed on the list. Upon hearing the last name, that of Kenneth Taylor, there is a nod of recognition: “Oh, Kenneth.”
Perhaps not too many people will mention Reign in this list. In the batches in which he played, the attention was usually a little more focused on other players. Gravenberch, Ünüvar, Sontje Hansen, Brian Brobbey, for example. “For many, my development has gone unnoticed, yes. The media mentions those other names very often. Makes sense, considering what they’ve accomplished. It’s never been an issue for me that I wasn’t nominated so often. Ajax and myself know what I can do. I’ll do my own thing after that,” says eighteen-year-old Regeer soberly. He has been playing for Ajax since he was fourteen, which tested him before – just like AZ. He ended up in Amsterdam after all via Rijnsburgse Boys and ADO Den Haag. “I had the choice of AZ, Ajax and PSV. That was not so difficult.”
Regeer developed quickly within the youth academy and was moved early to the Under-19, after he left a good impression on John Heitinga, the then trainer of Ajax Under-19 in the preparation. He first used Regeer as an attacking midfielder, having previously held a more defensive role. “In the end I became a regular, top scorer and the player with the most assists. A year later I was playing more at 6 or 8, as a box-to-box midfielder.” Regeer made his debut in professional football on behalf of Jong Ajax in this position. A debut that actually came quite unexpectedly. “I trained once on a Sunday morning. It didn’t work out in the tactical training, so the trainer said to a player: ‘You take off your vest and give it to Youri’. But I thought it was more to put him on edge. The next day I came to the club and saw my name in the line-up.”
Regeer has played 44 league matches for Young Ajax for the time being.
After the 2019/20 season, which was interrupted by the corona pandemic – in which he played three matches for Young Ajax – Regeer was definitively transferred to Young Ajax and designated as one of the five captains. “Last season I was chosen as one of the five captains of Young Ajax as a kind of surprise for a lot of people. Quinten Timber got injured and Brian Brobbey went to the first, so two dropped out and we alternated with three guys. At some point I became the permanent captain. It is special to put on the captain’s armband of Ajax, that gives a nice feeling. But if I don’t wear it, I won’t talk less about it. I’m just playing my own role, wearing a band.” Regeer regularly wears the captain’s armband at Jong Ajax this season and he notices that this entails a certain responsibility, especially since he has already had a full season in the Kitchen Champion Division.
“You are not designated as captain for nothing. You have to include the boys who have just come to watch in the process, because professional football is completely different from youth football. Last year you noticed that others had to lead the squad in some games. Now I have to show it because they expect more and I know what’s coming. In that respect it is something different,” says Regeer. More changed at Jong Ajax last summer, because Heitinga took over as trainer from Van der Gaag, who was transferred to the first team. “I have a very good relationship with Heitinga, we can share everything with each other and he is a great trainer to work with. I also had a good click with Mitchell, but Heitinga is a great successor. We know what to expect from each other. He already knew part of the group through and through from the Under-19, which can be an advantage. Within the field you just have to adjust things, because it is professional football and it no longer goes like it does in youth.”
Under Heitinga, Regeer was posted twice as right-back in the first games of the season. In the two matches he has played in midfield so far, he has both made the Team of the Week (‘yes, I see that happen. It’s nice if you get in there’) and Heitinga also sees him more of a midfielder . “I played as a right back during pre-season, because they wanted to see how things were going from above. In both matches with Jong Ajax in which I started as right back, I eventually ended up in midfield again. That’s where my strength lies, I think. They know and say that here too, but at the same time it was said that as a right-back I could be a surprise. Ultimately, I think midfielder is my best position, also to help the team move forward. It can often be seen as an advantage that you can handle multiple positions, but at some point you also want to focus on one position. But in the end it’s the coach’s choice, where I get the chance.”
Reign during Ajax’s friendly match against Anderlecht. In preparation for this season, he also played against Quick’20, Paderborn, Leeds United and Bayern Munich.
During the entire preparation, Regeer joined the main force of Ajax and traveled to the training camps in De Lutte and Austria. “You know that crazy things can happen if you do it right. I think I’ve had a good preparation, even though it wasn’t in my own position,” says Regeer. He was not a completely new face in the first team, because he was allowed to train for the first time when he was sixteen. “The first training I was looking around me, because a dream is coming true. I’m not saying it’s become normal, but some guys you just see every day. For many people they are the Ajax players you see once. I see and speak to them very often. That is also nice to experience, because they know what is required at the top.”
As an example, Govern cites Dusan Tadic. “You can see that Dusan really lives for it, on and off the field. He takes guys along, is always first and last in the gym and really takes care of his body. Dusan always takes his time, he doesn’t mind talking to us at all. But you also see Daley Blind and Davy Klaassen every morning. I also pay particular attention to Ryan Gravenberch, who plays on my position. He is also still young, but already has experience at the highest level. You look at the training how they do things and you try to pick things up from there. But you should also try to show yourself with the qualities you have. Ryan, for example, has a very sophisticated technique. I don’t have bad technique, but not as refined as Ryan Gravenberch.”
Regeer tries to transfer the lessons learned from the first team to Jong Ajax. “At the first, Champions League level is requested. When you come back to training at Jong Ajax, you try to take the boys along. I try to help guys with no more than one, two or three hits, instead of dribbling or bringing the ball. That is not possible at Champions League level.” In that respect, he describes himself as a ‘leader type’, a character trait that came to light during and after the lost away game against FC Volendam last season. Young Ajax lost a 1-2 lead in injury time within one minute, partly due to a mistake by Regeer. He left the field in tears, but appeared in front of the camera shortly after ESPN. “Of course I was shocked at the time.”
WHAT A BUTTON!! ???? ?? ESPN #?? #voljaj pic.twitter.com/rzniJlPnqT
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) February 23, 2021
“But I’ve been through a much worse moment that many people may have already forgotten. Me too, actually, but if you’re talking about moments when I failed…”, Regeer continues, without initially naming the moment concrete. The voice volume drops for a moment as thoughts turn to the Under-17 World Cup in Brazil, almost two years ago. Regeer was added to the roster at the last minute and grew into a basic player as a centre-back. In the semi-final against Mexico, he missed the decisive penalty. “The World Cup, yes. That was a big blow, the first few days were very hard. But I wanted to play the next match at Ajax anyway and I scored twice. That was a tipping point that I was back on track. In the penalty shootout against Atlético (a few months later in the Youth League, ed.) I indicated that I wanted to take last. But now when we get a penalty shootout, I’m like, let me take one or you’ll never get rid of it. It is now closed.”
It is a tough mental lesson, which Regeer now carries in his backpack, just like the experiences with the first team and in the Kitchen Champion Division. The next thing that has to end up in that is his debut in the first team. Last season he was allowed to take a seat on the reserve bench during the 5-4 cup match against FC Utrecht. “Of course I’m hoping for minutes this season, for my debut. But if I’m realistic, I have to take Jong Ajax in tow with goals and assists. If you play well at Jong Ajax, you automatically get a chance at the first. We’ll see how that goes,” it sounds realistic. With three points from four matches, the season for Jong Ajax has started somewhat disappointingly. “This is one of the youngest groups of Young Ajax ever, but we have to mature quickly. The boys who have been in the Kitchen Champion Division for a year now have to stand up. I am one of them, indeed.”
Name: Youri Rule
Date of birth: August 18, 2003
Club: (Young) Ajax
Position: midfielder
Strengths: content, insight, technique
Voetbalzone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
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