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 Denso Kasius, who has been developing stormy since his temporary transfer from FC Utrecht to FC Volendam.
By Chris Meijer
A year ago, Denso Kasius was the third right back of Jong FC Utrecht, a role in which he was more often in the stands or on the reserve bench than on the field. How different is his situation now: he has become an integral part of FC Volendam’s basic eleven, saw his contract with FC Utrecht being broken open last summer and was even linked to a top transfer to Bayer Leverkusen. “I haven’t heard much about it myself, so those are mostly rumours. But of course it’s nice if you see your name there. Very cool”, says Kasius with a smile about the alleged interest of Bayer Leverkusen. “It has all happened very quickly in the past six months. You have to be patient, work hard and then your chance will come. Then you have to make sure you’re ready for that. I have done that.”
Despite the fact that Kasius is only eighteen, he already had to overcome the necessary obstacles in his early career. In the youth of Feyenoord – which took him away from Sparta Rotterdam – he had to deal with severe growing pains, which prevented him from playing football for two years and was eventually sent off at Varkenoord at the age of fourteen. ADO Den Haag picked him up, after which he became an international of the the Dutch Under-16 within a year and received an offer from FC Utrecht. “The future plan at Utrecht looked much better than at ADO. Partly it also felt like a reward, but I didn’t experience it that way. I mainly looked to my future, that was the most important. I still look back on that with a good feeling.”
In Utrecht, Kasius initially developed rapidly. From the Under-16 to the Under-17, then he was soon allowed to make minutes in the Under-19 and at the age of seventeen he was already moved to Jong Utrecht. But that upward trend came to a halt for the U23 team. “The last period at Jong Utrecht was my most difficult”, Kasius agrees. For the time being, he has seven official matches for Jong Utrecht to his name, two of which as a basic player. “You prefer to play every game at that age, but now I could train alone and I was on the couch at the weekend. The Under-19 didn’t play any games last season because of corona, otherwise I could have made minutes there.”
Kasius made his debut in Jong Utrecht in January 2020 at the age of seventeen.
It was therefore somewhat of a surprise that FC Volendam reported to him during the winter break of the previous season. “I was the third right-back of Jong Utrecht and Volendam was quite high on the ranking. People at Volendam may also have thought: what should we do with the third right back of Jong Utrecht? It worked out well and now I only hear positive stories. Now I am also recognized on the Dijk and asked for photos, so that is also nice.” Kasius only trained twice with FC Volendam, before he got his first starting place in the home game against De Graafschap. Due to an injury to Marco Tol, right back Brian Plat was pushed to the center of the defense and a spot was immediately available for Kasius. A place that – apart from a few matches he had to miss due to a minor injury – he would not give up again.
“I think I showed myself well with an assist, I was also chosen as man of the match. The most important thing was that I was going to make minutes in the Kitchen Champion Division, otherwise you’ll get stuck. At Volendam I play everything, so it couldn’t be better. There was a good chance that I would start making minutes, but of course I had to prove myself. If I had trained or played badly, I would have been sitting here on the bench.” What worked in his favor in the eyes of Kasius was FC Volendam’s approach to the game. “With Volendam we really try to make the game, opponents collapse because we play a good positional game. At Jong Utrecht it is more the case that the opponent is waited a bit, to let them make the game and watch for the counter. Volendam’s game suits me a bit more, because I get the freedom to contribute offensively. At Jong Utrecht you are under more pressure, so you are more likely to make mistakes. I’m an attacking right-back, so this suits me well.”
In eighteen games for FC Volendam, Kasius was good for two assists and two goals for the time being.
Despite Bayer Leverkusen’s alleged interest, Kasius is now ‘just’ playing for FC Volendam until the end of this season, as was agreed when he was hired from FC Utrecht six months ago. In the meantime, his contract with FC Utrecht, which runs until 2023, was broken open and extended by one year. “It’s a nice gesture, a sign that I’ve done a good job. The prospects at FC Utrecht were not very good at first. I then went to Volendam, played a number of good matches and my contract is immediately broken open. I think it’s a nice reward,” he responds. He then returned to FC Volendam with a slightly different feeling to prepare for the new season.
“Last season it took some getting used to, because I got into it like that. Now it’s nice that I’ve already played with all those guys and can start the new season fresh. Of course some other guys have joined, otherwise it all feels the same. I don’t feel like I got a different role, maybe that will change during the season. How can I say that? Maybe now the boys will see that I can be an important player for the team.” With nine points from the first six games, FC Volendam has started the season somewhat unstable. Still, Kasius is convinced that his first season – in which the play-offs were made and NAC Breda immediately thwarted the road to the Eredivisie in the first round – can be surpassed. “The start of the season is always difficult, we may have had some bad luck. That shouldn’t be an excuse. With the team we have now, we are definitely a contender for promotion.”
Promote with FC Volendam and then return to FC Utrecht to compete for a base place in the first: that would be the ideal scenario for Kasius. Although he is not really working on the latter for the time being. “They have not yet outlined concrete plans at Utrecht, we will see when I return from Volendam. The most important thing is that we achieve Volendam’s goal: promotion to the Eredivisie. After that I think I’ll just join the first one and fight the backs there. They now have Hidde ter Avest, who is doing well. We’ll see how it goes. I am now only looking at this season and Utrecht will come again after that.”
Name: Denso Kasius
Date of birth: October 6, 2002
Club: FC Volendam (rented from FC Utrecht)
Position: right back
Strengths: offensive qualities, speed, tackles
Voetbalzone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
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