Bert Esselink made an absolute dream transfer last week. The 22-year-old centre-back threatened to disappear into amateur football a year and a half ago, took a risk by taking on the adventure with the Cypriot PAEEK and earned a transfer to record champion APOEL Nicosia, where he signed a contract until mid-2024. Not long ago, after being sidelined for two years with a knee injury, Esselink was not found good enough for De Graafschap, now he can dream of the Champions League.
By Chris Meijer
APOEL’s training complex was not exactly unfamiliar territory for Esselink. From Archangelos, cross the busy road, walk south for four minutes and you will be in front of the PAEEK stadium. During the past year and a half, Esselink drove more than regularly past the complex, which is protected by high fences, where the club logo betrays that the most successful club in Cyprus is housed there. Peering out the window more than once the thought secretly occurred: one day he would train there. “It’s pretty crazy that I actually play there now,” Esselink says with a grin. When he was allowed to report inside the gates of the training complex of APOEL, he was amazed. A world of difference with the conditions at PAEEK.
“I went from the smallest club at the highest level to the biggest club,” emphasizes Esselink. PAEEK was promoted from the third to the highest level in Cyprus within two years. The actual home of the ambitious club in the south of Nicosia – the home games have been played in the Makario Stadium elsewhere in Nicosia since promotion – may therefore resemble an amateur complex rather than a stadium of a professional club. Esselink did not always play and train on an even field at PAEEK, a stark contrast to the billiard cloths a hundred meters away as the crow flies. “The difference between the facilities and conditions at PAEEK and APOEL is immense. The fields are perfect, you have everything you need at the training complex. Yes, the first impression is very good. You can compare the facilities with those at PSV or Feyenoord. You notice from the reactions and messages on social media that this is a large club. I was sent away from Jong De Graafschap and now play at such a big club, so I have made some steps in the past year and a half.”
The top transfer from Esselink to APOEL feels like revenge and a reward, because eighteen months ago his dream to become a professional footballer seemed to have gone up in smoke. When he was seventeen, as a youth player of De Graafschap, he first tore the cruciate ligament in his right knee. Almost immediately after a ten-month rehabilitation, disaster struck again and he suffered another cruciate ligament injury, this time to his other knee. A total of 22 months, the knee injuries kept Esselink aside. “I never gave up and I always believed in myself, despite the fact that I was really told that it would be difficult,” says Esselink. “After my injuries, I was given the opportunity to play at Jong De Graafschap for fourteen months. Mike Snoei apparently didn’t think I had the level to join the first. In fact, it was only in the past six months that I got the feeling that I was getting to the level I was before my injury. So you see how hard that can cut in.”
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Last season, Voetbalzone spoke with Bert Esselink, Thijs Timmermans and Matthijs van Nispen about their adventure at PAEEK.
Esselink seemed to take the step back to the amateurs in the summer of 2020 after eight years at De Graafschap. He had even already signed with second divisionist De Treffers, although his contract there contained a clause that made it possible to leave for a professional club. He came that same summer, with PAEEK. “The only thing I knew about football on Cyrus was APOEL,” laughs Esselink. He knew the stories about Cypriot clubs that do not fulfill their agreements or do not pay. But still, Esselink decided to take the gamble. “It was really an investment going this way. And in retrospect it turned out to be a very good choice.”
The expressed ambitions could be realized, because in the words of Esselink PAEEK experienced a ‘super year’ and was promoted to the highest level as champion from the second level for the first time in club history. Esselink was a mainstay in the championship team – which also included compatriots Thijs Timmermans and Matthijs van Nispen – and that already generated a lot of interest last summer. “Also from the Netherlands, in the Kitchen Champion Division. But that was not really an option for me, because then I would rather play with PAEEK at the highest level. Especially from abroad you notice that it is difficult to estimate the second level of Cyprus. In June I made the decision to stay with PAEEK and actually it was my plan to play there for another year. I had the feeling that if I played there for a while at the highest level, there would automatically be great options.”
That feeling turned out to be right. In his own words, Esselink had to find his place in the first matches at the highest level, but did not miss a minute at PAEEK in the first half of the season and made an impression. Slowly but surely his name started to buzz more and more in Cyprus. “I noticed that people talked about me more and more. Can I read Greek? No, don’t read anyway. But then I threw it through the translator. In any case, I like to keep an eye on what is said and written about the competition in my spare time.” It resulted in concrete offers this month. Anorthosis Famagusta also wanted him, but when APOEL Nicosia came forward, the choice was quickly made.
“It was quite surprising that APOEL wanted me. But when such a club comes forward, you don’t have to think twice about it. I was also ready for the next step in my career,” admits Esselink. APOEL Nicosia is the record champion of Cyprus with 28 league titles and has been active in the group stage of the Champions League several times over the past decade. However, the last championship dates back to 2019 and last season APOEL even finished outside the top six in the regular competition, missing the play-off for the championship. That scenario now threatens again, as APOEL currently occupies seventh place. With Esselink – who had a surrender clause in his contract with PAEEK and thus became the first player in club history to yield a transfer fee – and João Pedro, who was taken over from Académica Coimbra, APOEL must at least make it to the play-off to reach the championship. “The ambition is still to take all the prizes, so also to become champion.”
Esselink will contribute to this from next Sunday. Trainer Sofronis Avgousti decided to give him the space to acclimatize, so that he was not yet part of the selection during the league match against Ethnikos Achna and the cup match with Olympiakos Nicosia. “That way I have time to get used to the game system, the training level is of course also a bit higher. APOEL generally plays a bit more forward than PAEEK, so as a defender something different is asked of you. You can perhaps compare that with the Dutch playing style, there is normally also played forward. Of course it helps that I already know the competition.”
Esselink celebrates a goal in the shirt of PAEEK.
In this way, Esselink’s life is slowly returning to calmer waters after an extremely eventful period. He only returned to Cyprus two weeks ago after spending Christmas in the Netherlands and trained with PAEEK for another week, pending negotiations with APOEL. An agreement was reached even before PAEEK’s first game after the winter break. As a result, Esselink also had to look for new living space. Last season he shared an apartment in Nicosia with team- and compatriot Timmermans, but last year he lived alone in the coastal town of Larnaca. Now Esselink plans to return to the Cypriot capital. Together with girlfriend Bibiche, who will join him definitively from Friday. “That is nice and also gives peace of mind.”
Is Esselink immediately counting on a basic place at APOEL? “Of course it’s hard to say. In any case, I will do everything I can to work as hard as possible in training and then the decision will ultimately be up to the trainer,” he reacts realistically. In any case, Esselink does not feel that he has reached his ceiling yet. “I’m only 22, so I think there’s definitely a lot of stretch.” Taking the step from the second level of Cyprus to the Europe or even Champions League within two years: it would be a special, but at the same time realistic scenario for Esselink. “Yeah, of course that wouldn’t be wrong.”