Ryan Babel, Jurriën Timber, Noah Fadiga, Ruben Kluivert and Kik Pierie have a chance at the title this year Fashion Player 2021. One of them may soon call himself the best dressed footballer of the year. In a five-part series Football zone as official media partner of the Fashion Player Award 2021, one of the nominees always speaks. This episode focuses on Kik Pierie. The defender has long been regarded as a promising talent, but is still waiting for his absolute breakthrough due to a lingering back injury. After sc Heerenveen and Ajax, he currently plays on a rental basis at FC Twente.
By Mart Oude Nijeweeme and Kalum van Oudheusden
If you didn’t know better, you would think that Kik Pierie has suddenly disappeared from the football stage. The defender played his last game on behalf of FC Twente on April 25 and saw how it then became anxiously quiet around his person. Slight pains initially seemed to be the cause, but now the mandekker is still waiting for his first minutes of the season. “The MRIs showed that there was more irritation than we expected,” says Pierie. What started as a harmless twist grew into a back injury that has sidelined him for quite some time. Swimming, walking, sleeping. Whatever he did, the pain remained.
“It eventually resulted in a period of rehabilitation. That took a long time and that is annoying, because you don’t know where you stand. Normally everything goes by itself, but suddenly that was no longer the case. I couldn’t even switch sides when I was in bed. I’ve been looking for a lot of distraction.” Pierie started studying business and entrepreneurship, followed meditation focused on his breathing and mainly took his rest. “I was not at the club every day, I have no business there. But I did try to be there every week, chat and play a game. Being among the boys. I trained elsewhere. I am very happy that I can now do things on the field again. I feel like a footballer again.”
“Kik Pierie, pooh. I had to Google what his current status is. I had completely forgotten about him”, was a telling comment under a recently published article on Voetbalzone about the Fashion Player Award. “I really missed the group cohesion,” Pierie admits. “The talking, the jokes in the dressing room. I’m looking forward to experiencing that again. When that will happen? There’s no point in looking too far ahead. I first have to get fit and start making minutes again. I’m really happy to be back on the field now.”
Pierie has long been considered one of the country’s greatest talents and in 2019 was in twentieth place on a list of L’Equipe with greatest talents of the European fields. The defender thus finished above Erling Braut Haaland, Alexander Isak, Mason Mount and Ferran Torres. “Whether I entered Ajax nicely with that? A year earlier they bought Tadic for fifteen million, so I didn’t see it that way right away”, Pierie looks back on his transfer from Heerenveen to Ajax. “Maybe my goal in the ArenA had something to do with it, I don’t know.” Pierie single-handedly helped Heerenveen to a point in the Johan Cruijff ArenA in 2019 by working the 4-4 behind Kostas Lamprou in a crazy duel in the final phase.
Kik Pierie is one of the five nominees for the Fashion Player Award 2021.
However, the adventure in Amsterdam turned out to be a huge disappointment for Pierie. The central defender did not appear in the plans of trainer Erik ten Hag and joined the promise team. “I was faced with a choice, extending at Heerenveen or taking a step. Ajax, PSV and AZ showed interest, I spoke with PSV and Ajax. In my view, the step to Ajax would bring me the most, that turned out not to be the case “After the preparation, it soon became clear that I did not immediately appear in the plans. I found that difficult. At Heerenveen I was decisive. That blow came pretty hard, I had trouble dealing with it. Despite this, I still stand behind my choice and I’m glad I made the move.”
For Pierie, the redeeming phone call came from Enschede when he was having lunch with a friend in Amsterdam. “I got a call from an unknown number,” he recalls. “That turned out to be Ron Jans. When Ajax indicated that I would not be able to play much, I immediately switched and spoke with my agent. A few days later Ron called. Twente wanted to hire me. After that it took a day or two and it was finished. I didn’t think about it long, I saw it as an opportunity to show what I can do again.” Pierie likes to work under Jans and sees him as a ‘people person’. “He looks at what someone is like as a person, that’s nice. He invites new players at home to eat with them and looks beyond his nose. In football that is quite special, I know.”