Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at 11:59 AM• Dominic Mostert • Last update: 12:29

Noa Lang does not feel that he has the ‘goodwill factor’ in the Netherlands. The attacker is the club top scorer of Club Brugge this season with thirteen goals, but also receives many nasty comments via social media. His biological father Jeffrey is of Surinamese descent, while Lang grew up for about twelve years with the Moroccan-Dutch former professional Nourdin Boukhari as stepfather. Those cultural influences are used by others to denigrate Lang.

“When you see what reactions I get on social media …”, Lang sighs in an interview with Heroes. “Do they call me ‘Noa Slang’ or ‘Mohammed Lang’. There are also a lot of racist reactions. They know that my father is a black man, he is Surinamese. ‘Son of a banana picker’, they write.” Lang does not intend to adopt a different attitude. “I’d rather be myself and maybe not loved by everyone, than loved by everyone and not myself.”

“I am proud of who I am. It is always with me: people run away with me or they hate me. That took some getting used to in the beginning, now I can laugh about it”, the young attacker continues. He is therefore not worried about the nasty reactions on social media. “People are so concerned about me, apparently I am very interesting. It may sound arrogant, but probably the people who say that also want to become a professional footballer.”

Lang recently said in a conversation with Robin van Persie, which was broadcast by the KNVB, that he has mental guidance and is ready for his third psychologist. “The first two were from the club. I honestly need that. I just need to be able to throw everything out of someone and talk about certain things. I’m not a talker about my problems, but this is someone who has that. I do attach a lot of value to that. I can honestly say that now and then there are tears as well. That is part of the game, we are just people. ”