Devyne Rensch is experiencing his big breakthrough in Ajax’s main force this season. The eighteen-year-old fullback points in conversation with the NOS Daley Blind and Lisandro Martínez as the players from whom he can learn a lot at the moment. Rensch calls Blind’s passing and insight ‘not normal’.
“It is the first season that I play in the first and it demands a lot from your body if you have to play so many matches right away. Such a fast pace, such a high level. The intensity is quite tough, ”says Rensch. The fullback has played 25 matches in Ajax’s main force this season, while he was still waiting for his official debut prior to this year. “Yes, it all happened really fast.”
“Of course I watch how they work, also outside the field”, Rensch points out to his teammates at Ajax. “You can see that they handle it very well, of course you want to learn from that. If you look at Daley, his passes and how he thinks on the field. I don’t think that’s normal. The willpower that Martínez has, I can still improve on that point. Heads, the physical part. I am working hard on that. ”
The fact that Rensch is now experiencing his breakthrough in professional football is largely due to Peter van der Horst. He temporarily stopped playing football at a young age due to a lingering Achilles tendon injury, but returned to amateur club Unicum from Lelystad thanks to his youth trainer. “He went to my mother and said, ‘Your son has to keep playing football, he has to keep going. I’ll help him with that. ”
Van der Horst also helped Rensch by paying his dues. “It was a difficult time, especially for my mother. She took care of me and my little brother all by herself. She also did not have a driver’s license, I always had to ride with someone to go to away games. I do all this for her and for my trainer, who I am very grateful, ”says Rensch, who still has a lot of contact with Van der Horst. “Of course I still talk to him. He watches every game of mine and still pretends to be my trainer, saying what’s good and what’s not. That is only good. ”