Davy Klaassen recently returned to Ajax after three years. The 27-year-old midfielder was active abroad for Everton and Werder Bremen, but could not refuse a return to the Netherlands when Ajax reported three weeks before the close of the deadline. “I had the feeling so strongly: I just want to play for Ajax, ready“Klaassen says in conversation with Football International.

The period at Everton was bad, the midfielder admits. Klaassen still managed to play sixteen games in the main squad the Toffees, but for much of the 2017/18 season he was not in the match squad. After thirteen years, the sixteen-time Orange-international was used to Ajax in a certain way and says that in England he had to deal with a different vision and a different system.

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“At Everton, the footballing aspect was also the starting point at first, but if it doesn’t run twice, then the ball just goes up and it happens in a different way. In the beginning I really thought: Yeah, but guys, can’t we just solve it by playing football and enforce it that way? The rest thought differently about that, and then as a player you should also be able to let go. “

“I really learned that in England, the different way of experiencing how to achieve a result, and that was very useful in Germany”, Klaassen refers to his two years at Werder Bremen. The midfielder sees big differences between the Bundesliga and the Eredivisie. “There is more pace in the game in Germany. And you also end up with the result. That remains an important difference in thinking between the Netherlands and abroad. In fact, all teams want to play nice and well-kept football here, but there is no question about the border. that’s much less of a benchmark. “

Klaassen will play Champions League football again on Wednesday evening when Liverpool comes to visit. The midfielder has enjoyed Ajax’s performance at European level in recent years. “I really experienced those evenings as a supporter. Not so much that I ran through the room like crazy, but I could always look forward to an evening when Ajax played in the Champions League. It was nice to see, in terms of results, but especially the way it happened. The strong and warm feeling at Ajax has always remained and I noticed that during those evenings. “