If it had been up to Mike Snoei, Feyenoord would have picked up Jerdy Schouten at Excelsior a year and a half ago. The current trainer of De Graafschap worked at Telstar together with the 24-year-old midfielder, who eventually moved to Bologna. Schouten himself admits that he was a Feyenoord fan at a young age and understands that his name was linked to the Rotterdammers, but at the same time states that a step towards De Kuip was never necessary.
“I always compared him to Willem van Hanegem. He was also not fast, but he had great insight and tactical ingenuity. That is why I would have liked to see him at Feyenoord. I think he fits there too, with that character of his. If Feyenoord had taken the plunge, had shown balls, it would have been a success ”, says Snoei in conversation with RTV Rijnmond. Schouten, a youth product of ADO Den Haag who ended up at Excelsior via Telstar, was also regularly asked about Feyenoord before he left Bologna.
“From ‘you have to go there or you have to go there’. As an Excelsior player, it was only fun to be linked to such clubs. I did feel flattered, ”says Schouten in conversation with the broadcaster. “I was a Feyenoord fan at a young age. All my friends were then too, so I had little choice. But that soon changed. When I played football in the youth of ADO Den Haag, I actually didn’t have a favorite club anymore. ”
However, Schouten has never heard anything from his agent about Feyenoord. “But I could understand that people assumed I was for Feyenoord because I lived in the area,” the midfielder admits. Several Italian clubs – of which Genoa, Atalanta and Bologna were the most concrete – did show interest. “Apparently I liked my profile in Italy. During my conversation with the management (of Bologna, ed.) I asked how they saw me as a football player. They mentioned my good points, but also told me where I could improve. That’s exactly how I saw myself. I thought that was really important. So they really knew what and who they brought in. That convinced me. ”