Friday, November 19, 2021 at 11:38 PM• Dominic Mostert

Eljero Elia has completed his official return to ADO Den Haag. The 34-year-old winger came on Friday evening as a substitute against Telstar (0-2 win), fifteen minutes before time, after he was presented as an asset earlier this week. There was no spectacular substitute, but Elia is above all happy to be back on the field. He was without a club after his contract with FC Utrecht was dissolved in the summer and has been training with ADO since the end of September.

Elia made her professional football debut in December 2004 with ADO. He left for FC Twente in the summer of 2007 and is back at the old nest after more than 14 years. “It was nice to be back on the field and have fun,” Elia said after his first official appearance since 13 May in conversation with the General Newspaper. “I am happy that I have taken this step. It doesn’t matter to me how many supporters it is and in which competition. I want to play football, make more and more minutes step by step, get really match fit and last as long as possible.”

His return leaves you wanting more, says Elia. “I feel really good at ADO”, the attacker says. Elia was still in the World Cup final in 2010 and became champion of Turkey fourteen months ago with Istanbul Basaksehir, but does not see his move to ADO as a major decline in sporting terms. “I just went back to my home town. The circle is round. That ADO now plays in the Kitchen Champion Division, so be it. It’s my club and it’s a conscious choice to play football five minutes from my house.”

“Especially because my children now grow up in a nice environment and can make friends that they no longer have to leave because I’m going to play somewhere far away,” Elia explains his choice. “My son is now two years old and is starting to understand a little bit what I’m doing. The most important thing for me is that he will see me play football in a stadium. And the number of spectators I play for really doesn’t interest me that much.”

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