Valk made screenshots of the conversation about Berghuis: ‘I apologized’

Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 11:59 PM

Sem Valk is happy with his debut for Feyenoord. The 19-year-old defender came on Thursday evening in the Conference League game against Maccabi Haifa (2-1) ten minutes after the break as a replacement for Marcos Senesi. Last season Valk was already twice in the selection and in preparation for the current season he also got to play. This week he trained with the first team and Arne Slot granted him ample playing time.

“The training is already fantastic”, says Valk ESPN. “The level in the training sessions is very high and you can learn a lot from that. Especially from Gernot Trauner, as he conducts duels, delivers defensive work and is on the ball. My father also often talks about what kind of defender John de Wolf (assistant -trainer, ed.). I can also learn a lot from John.” Valk calls himself a defender ‘who is good at the ball’. “I have been a midfielder for a long time and I have grown a lot in the last two years. I am now 1 meter 95 and therefore I have been pushed back again.”

“I am especially good on the ball; I can learn a lot in defense. Duel strength and forward defense are points of attention,” continues Valk, who picked up his phone after the game to contact his parents. “I quickly sent a message to my parents. My phone exploded quite a bit. I spoke and said I want to thank the players and the trainers.”

Valk’s telephone was a much-discussed topic on social media in the summer. The youngster made a screenshot of a group chat of Feyenoord, in which players reacted with surprise to a departure of Steven Berghuis from the chat. Valk could be seen in the background photo of the WhatsApp conversation, which led to the suspicion that he had made the screenshots. The defender now confirms that himself. “That is something that happened last season and I would like to put it behind me. I regret it very much. I apologized to the group and they accepted it. Hopefully we can continue well now.”