With five games to go, Schalke 04 is heading straight for promotion to the Bundesliga. With remaining matches against direct competitors Werder Bremen (number 2), St. Pauli (number 3) and SV Darmstadt 98 (number 4), the leader has everything in his own hands. For Thomas Ouwejan, the battle for the title has a special touch. The Dutchman is rented from AZ and must be taken over by in the event of a championship The Königsblauen† Football zone visited the 25-year-old left wing defender in Gelsenkirchen and spoke to him about the amazing crowd of supporters, the farewell to AZ and the Dutch national team.
By Mart Oude Nijeweeme
Anyone who enters the Rudi-Assauer-Platz in Gelsenkirchen will soon notice that the difference between the Eredivisie and the 2. Bundesliga is not great. With a fleet of vehicles you can count on, it is almost inconceivable that a club of the Schalke caliber would be playing at the second level. Ouwejan also has no complaints about the preconditions. With a flawless car, the defender will drive in front of the Veltins Arena this afternoon. “We’re doing well, you won’t hear me complain about that. It’s a two-and-a-half hour drive to Heiloo, the village where I grew up. If I can, I drive up and down.”
Ouwejan has become an integral part of Schalke’s defense. Since his arrival from AZ last summer – last year he was loaned out to Udinese – he has been assured of his place in the team. Under the fired Dimitrios Grammozis in March, Schalke invariably operated with three central defenders and two emerging backs. “That is the formation that suits me best,” says Ouwejan. “The new trainer (Michael Büskens, ed.) prefers to play with four defenders. But I can do that too. I have played more than a hundred games at AZ as a left back. So no, I am not afraid of my place.”
And why should Ouwejan. With his rushes on the left he is in many an attack of the traditionsverein concerned. So far this season, he has netted three goals and eight assists. And to think that the Veltins Arena is filled with sixty thousand spectators every two weeks. Ouwejan talks about it as if it doesn’t matter to him. “I really enjoy it. The home games here, that is actually bizarre. That really gives a kick. When you walk onto the field for the warm-up you hear a sound, I have rarely experienced that. De Kuip and the Johan Cruijff ArenA are comparable, but I think it is even more extreme here.”
Due to the early relegation, Schalke quickly switched through with a view to the current season. Ouwejan was also polled at an early stage. The defender was still playing in Serie A at the time, where he could have stayed. But the videos he was sent and the good conversations with the Schalke club management got him seriously thinking. “I don’t always realize that I play at such a big club,” Ouwejan continues. “Occasionally it comes in. In preparation we were at a training camp in Austria. Then you are in a small village and there are a few thousand fans on the side. Then you realize that it is different than in the Netherlands or Udinese .”
Ouwejan does not see a return to Alkmaar this summer anyway. Due to the cutbacks, Schalke did not have the financial resources to definitively take over the left leg from AZ, after which a rental construction with a mandatory option to purchase was agreed. With promotion to the Bundesliga, Ouwejan will be retained for the fallen German top club. “If we are promoted I will stay, if we do not promote I will have to talk a lot with the club and see what is best for me. In my ideal image I will go to the Bundesliga with this club, that is how I have mapped it out myself I think it would be fantastic to go to the Bundesliga with a club like Schalke.”
The fact that Ouwejan doesn’t feel like returning to AZ has to do with things that happened in the past. The defender ended up on the bench in his last year and was kept inboard despite offers from several clubs. “I no longer have bad feelings for AZ. All emotions have been there,” said Ouwejan. “I had a really good time there. I’ve been there for thirteen years, from the Under 12. It’s a shame I didn’t leave there in a nice way. We both had our reasons for that. But it happened, we have to go on.”
Ouwejan had the opportunity to go to PSV, among other things. The people of Eindhoven showed interest in the winter of 2020, but saw how the AZ club management kept their feet up. Selling players to the competitor, they don’t feel like that in Alkmaar. “There was that interest, I would have liked that. Those are nice steps, it would have been the perfect step for me. PSV remains a great club. It is a pity that it did not work out then. The fact is that AZ did not help completely.” While Ouwejan faced a lot of competition from Owen Wijndal at AZ, there were considerably more opportunities for the left back position at PSV.
A longer stay in the Netherlands could have resulted in Ouwejan being featured more often for the Dutch national team. Despite his good performance, Ouwejan believes that the 2. Bundesliga is viewed in a certain way. “When I talk to the Dutch, I notice that they want to keep the Eredivisie higher. We recently won with a B team from the base of Utrecht. We beat Vitesse in the preparation. In my opinion, the 2. Bundesliga a lot stronger than the Eredivisie if you exclude Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord. If you compare the clubs in the 2. Bundesliga with the clubs in the Eredivisie, the level is a lot higher here.”
A future call for the Dutch does not exclude Ouwejan. “They often ask why I’m not with the Dutch. ‘Do you qualify or not?’, they ask. Well, not actually. At least, I haven’t heard anything, so I don’t think so. the Dutch plays with five defenders. They believe that I fit perfectly into the system.” But there has been no call from Van Gaal so far. “I don’t see it happening anytime soon. Then I think we should first be promoted to the Bundesliga. The system suits me well, sure. But I can’t say much about it. Let it be an extra incentive to If we get promoted to the Bundesliga and I keep this form, I think there will definitely be looked at.”