He is only 21 years old and last year played in the Kitchen Champion Division on behalf of FC Volendam, but is now a fixed value in the Bundesliga. Micky van de Ven impresses as a central defender at VfL Wolfsburg and did not miss a minute this season. Football zone visited the defender in Wolfsburg and spoke to him about his development, the interest of Feyenoord and PSV and the death of his agent Mino Raiola.
By Mart Oude Nijeweeme
The contrast is enormous for Van de Ven. Where he was wasting weekly on the bench a year ago, this season he is one of the first on the match sheet. Trainer Niko Kovac sees an important link in Van de Ven. What speaks in the Dutchman’s favor is that he can work in the center as well as on the left. In Germany they are counting themselves rich with the purchase of 3.5 million euros.
Micky, how are you?
“It’s going well, I’m having a good time. We started a little less this season, but we have now started the way up. It is difficult to say how it was possible that it went less. The football was not very good. We have drawn 2-2 against Werder Bremen. You always hope to win against a PhD student, but when you see that Bremen is doing quite well now… We notice that we are picking up things faster and things are becoming clearer.”
And with you personally?
“Of course it’s not wrong to play everything in the Bundesliga at such a young age. I didn’t play much last year. You hope you will play a lot if you make a step. But I came from the Kitchen Champion Division. “It started to itch last year. It didn’t go well, then you wonder why you don’t get the chance to prove yourself. Then I got injured. This year I did a good preparation and didn’t miss a minute. “
Are you an impatient type?
“I can be patient, but if it takes too long I’ll let you know. I don’t become an annoying man in the dressing room, but at some point I do ask how the trainer sees it.”
What is your impression of Niko Kovac?
“It is a very clear trainer, he knows what he wants. Niko likes that his players are fit and run a lot. We also ran a lot in preparation, I can tell you. He is clear in what he wants and clear to the players how he thinks things are going.”
Why did the club want you so badly?
“Wolfsburg had already reported when I broke through at Volendam. Then Volendam said I was not allowed to leave. A year later they came again and I had contact with Mark (van Bommel, ed.). He became a trainer here. Then also spoke to the technical director. They said I had special weapons to play in the back. Speed, length and strong on the ball. They said they had no fear of starting me in the starting line-up against clubs like Bayern Munich. “Maybe you need a year to mature, but the next year you can play a lot,” they said.”
What did that do to you?
“It’s good to hear that a club has so much confidence in you and that because of that you drop your choice on such a club. It is of course not a small step. Many people will say that your career has come to an end or that you have lost a lot of money. sit on the couch. Of course it is difficult, but you yourself think it is the best step. Those signals don’t mean much to me. It motivates me rather to prove those people the opposite.”
How was your relationship with Mark van Bommel?
“Our bond was good. He was clear to me. In the beginning I wasn’t on the selection, but he always explained that. That I was only there for a week and needed time to adjust. Everything goes faster, in a higher gear. That makes sense. In the end, our collaboration just didn’t last very long. He did very well with Wolfsburg in the beginning. After that it went a bit less and he was sent away pretty quickly. We got a message in the app group that he was fired. The next day he was in the dressing room to say goodbye. I haven’t spoken to him since he was fired. I did speak through the app.”
Mark van Bommel was fired early by VfL Wolfsburg after a disappointing start.
What is that contact about?
“There was a time when I played little. Then you have contact about how that is possible or how he sees it. Those are not very special conversations. It does not surprise me that he is doing so well at Antwerp. Of course he has it at PSV “Well done too. Also here in the beginning. You can see that a trainer has qualities. If he would lose everything from the start, then it’s a different story. Last time I wished him success at Antwerp.”
Did anything surprise you at Wolfsburg?
“Especially the pace and intensity that they put in the game here surprised me. I often played ninety minutes at Volendam and then I was still good at it. If I play a whole game here, I’ll be there for two days out. Then I can’t do anything and I just sleep. But also the facilities for the players to recover and improve themselves. That’s fantastic. Just look at the fields, they are top every day. Everything is arranged down to the last detail. Of course you expect that because you go to a top club, but you underestimate the fact that it is so well arranged.”
What is the biggest difference of football in Germany and the Netherlands?
“The intensity. And the experience. If you lose two or three games in a row here, the atmosphere will suck all week. That is also the case in the Netherlands, but the feeling is less there. In the Netherlands it is important that the atmosphere inside the team is good. Here you really have the puppets dancing when you don’t perform. You notice that there are more irritations, you just feel it. When you enter the locker room you automatically feel that it is not the way it normally is. “
How do you look back on your departure from the Netherlands? You left Volendam with an arbitration case. I can imagine that’s not the way you had in mind?
“That’s right. It was a bit of double. I didn’t leave very nicely, but that is in the past and luckily we closed it well. It has picked up well for everyone. The club has earned a nice amount from me and I now play at a great club. I think everyone can be satisfied in the end.”
As a player of FC Volendam, Van de Ven won several individual prizes.
Feyenoord and PSV wanted you too. Why did the choice ultimately fall on Wolfsburg?
“I have had a lot of contact with Wolfsburg, also with Feyenoord and PSV, but Feyenoord had only been in touch with Volendam three days before the closing deadline. As a result, I had a very short time to negotiate personally with Feyenoord. I was already with Wolfsburg. much longer in conversation. I knew there was interest from Feyenoord and that Arne would like to have me, but there were not many conversations. In the end everything accelerated. When Volendam came to an agreement with Feyenoord I still had to negotiate myself. PSV came the only on the very last day. That comes so close together.”
What appealed to you about Wolfsburg’s story?
“I had been in contact with Wolfsburg for half a year. Everything was clear. Why they wanted me. I have been here three times with my father. Every time there was something I could call. I must say that I really had my doubts to stay in the Netherlands. Wolfsburg was such a big step, you start to wonder if it is the right step. I made a transfer on the very last day. I literally had the I had a good conversation with Schmidt, but then again with Van Bommel. Your feelings go everywhere. I thought: what should I do now ? That whole day it was chaos. In the end I chose Wolfsburg.”
Have you spoken to Arne Slot as well?
“Yes. He indicated that he would like to have me and that I would really become a reinforcement for the team and could make many minutes. I already spoke to him when he was still a trainer of AZ. He was already charmed by me then. and he wanted to have me. When he went to Feyenoord, he came back immediately. If you put it that way, a collaboration should come about someday, haha.”
You have also experienced lesser things. The death of Mino Raiola, your agent. How was that?
“That was tough. I had a lot of contact with Mino during the summer. You know that he is less well, but it came as a blow when I heard that he had died. I had a very good relationship with him. called him every day, if not three times a day. Then your bond becomes so close. That bond is suddenly gone.”
Van de Ven was close with Mino Raiola, his now deceased agent who played an important role in his transition from Volendam to Wolfsburg.
How would you describe him as a person? How did you get to know him?
“As a very sweet person. I could always laugh with and about him. I think he wants the best for his players. There is so much misspelling, because he is the hardest for the club. He wants to get the best out of it for his players. He’s always said to me, “Whatever happens, I’m in front of, next to and behind you. Everything you do, I go with you.” He always said he had his opinion on something, but he left the choice up to me.”
What does that mean that he is sweet?
If anything, he’ll take care of everything for you. We often ate something together. So my father was there. He indicated that I could come to Monaco to clear my head if there was anything wrong. He takes such good care of his players. Yes, I had a pretty rough time after his death. I must say I am getting motivation out of it now. I want to make him even more proud than he already was.”