Wednesday, December 29, 2021 at 6:56 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 18:59

Anyone who saw Adam Maher break through into professional football in 2010 as a fine-tuned number ten would not have thought that the now 28-year-old midfielder would become the ultimate ball conqueror. Yet it is true, because Maher had remarkably enough by far the most ball recaptures in the Eredivisie over the calendar year 2021. “People don’t see how much dirty work I do,” says the FC Utrecht midfielder opposite Football International.

Maher plays for the Domstedelingen as the most withdrawn midfielder and has long ceased to be the number ten he was eleven years ago when he made his breakthrough. Purely looking at the statistics, this new role suits him perfectly, because with 365 ball recaptures in 2021 he trumps well-known ‘packers’ such as Ibrahim Sangaré of PSV and Edson Álvarez of Ajax. It should also be noted that Maher only missed a few games in 2021 and therefore made more minutes. “That defensive aspect of me is not seen very often,” says Maher, who seems to feel slightly undervalued in the Netherlands.

“People think quickly with Adam Maher: he just wants the ball“, thinks the midfielder, who played five international matches for the Dutch as number ten. “Also because it is a quality for me. But as soon as I moved back one position, from ten to six, I started working on that too. A team like FC Utrecht sometimes doesn’t have the ball. Then we have to get him back. I’m not averse to that. It’s nice that the statistics support that. I still get comments: ‘Does Adam take balls? Is he doing anything defensively?’ I always say: the statistics don’t lie.”

It is striking that Maher is not only decisive defensively, but also makes a major contribution to the ball: the former PSV player created the most opportunities from set pieces and sent the most passes to the penalty area in 2021 after Dusan Tadic. I sometimes get the accusation that I play the ball too little forward,” says Maher in response to the latter statistic. “That the ball goes to the side or back. But I am the type that actually wants to play all the balls forward. Sometimes I deliberately keep the ball with me a little longer. To give the team confidence, rest. You also have to be careful in the transition; if you take too much risk, the opponent can take advantage. If they don’t have the ball, they can’t score.”