Sven Botman left Ajax this summer after eleven years, without ever having played a match in the main force. The twenty-year-old defender played on a rental basis for sc Heerenveen last season and made such an impression there that Lille OSC knocked on the door of the Johan Cruijff ArenA with an offer of eight million euros. Botman can now look back on a strong start to the season at les Dogues and hopes to be able to continue this line.

“They had a very good plan, which also focused on my future. They didn’t guarantee a starting spot, but they did intend to let me play every match. In addition, I thought that competition suited me. Maybe I could develop better this way ”, he tells in conversation with it Algemeen Dagblad about his transfer.

Botman does not mean to say that this plan was missing at Ajax: “No, but I saw more perspective in Lille’s plan. They got me for the basics. Not at Ajax. It’s that simple. That, together with the competition and everything around it, was the deciding factor. ” Lille is currently second in Ligue 1, has not lost any of its first six games and has the least passed defense in France. Nevertheless, Botman has already noticed that he has to compete against much better strikers than in the Eredivisie: “They run for 90 minutes and are technically well put together.”

“France is one of the best five competitions in Europe for a reason. Due to the high intensity, the level is very high here. ” However, because football in France suits him well, it took him little effort to join: “I excel at defending. I like to take out a striker. Each club has a different style of attack and defense. In that it was a bit of adjustment. But adapting was no problem. Now it is important to stay afloat. If you do that in one of the top five competitions, you do well. ”