Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 13:39• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk

Arnaut Danjuma has good memories of the collaboration with Mark van Bommel. The former international, who was recently fired as head coach of VfL Wolfsburg after a series of disappointing results, was assistant coach of the A1 of PSV in the past. Danjuma said he wrongly ended up on the couch, which ‘really got too much for him’. A conversation with Van Bommel offered a lot of solace.

“I remember that I lost everyone in training,” the Villarreal attacker recalls in an interview with The Telegraph. “Mark was an assistant. I was told I wasn’t playing again, got really emotional. But I thought: I’m not going to cry in front of those guys. I kicked some balls away, everyone was inside and it really became too much for me. Suddenly Mark was behind me. I will never forget the conversation we had then.”

Van Bommel had a dynamic start at Wolfsburg, but after eight official duels in a row without a win, he still got his congé. The coach was previously fired by PSV. He came under criticism from, among others, Marco van Basten, who Rondo stated that he ‘did not rate Van Bommel highly as a good trainer’. “I don’t think he has much substance as a trainer. Then I am talking about the football technical and football tactical aspect, football matters.” Danjuma speaks words of praise. “I would really like to work with him someday, he knows that. I think it’s a shame for him that it didn’t work out at Wolfsburg.”

Danjuma eventually broke through in professional football at NEC and earned a transfer to Club Brugge there. In 2019 he made the switch to Bournemouth for 16.5 million euros; after two years in England, he settled at Villarreal for a transfer fee of 23.5 million euros. While playing for Club Brugge, the winger made his debut for the Dutch national team; in the Nations League match against Germany, he came in after 68 minutes and managed to score immediately. The counter now stands at three international matches and he has been included in the final selection by national coach Louis van Gaal for the decisive World Cup qualifiers with Montenegro (November 13) and Norway (November 16).