The Kitchen Champion Division has been used as a nursery for national and international talents for decades and this season too, many football players with potential are walking around on the second level. As the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division, Voetbalzone highlights one of these talents every week. This time attention is paid to Daan Huisman, who, as a mercenary from Vitesse, is currently flying hours and making an impression at VVV-Venlo.
By Jordi Tomasowa
With 59 matches to his name for Vitesse, Huisman is one of the most experienced youngsters active in the Kitchen Champion Division this season. About a third of these duels, the twenty-year-old midfielder played as a basic player. It is the main reason that Huisman chose to let himself be rented out to the VVV last summer. “In preparation I was fully focused on Vitesse. The club obviously had problems with the new owners and many players leaving. I kept in mind that I might get a chance, even though my trainer Thomas Letsch might not really see it in me. In the end I was like: rent me out, then I can make minutes.” Huisman emphasizes that it was also in Vitesse’s interest that he gain experience elsewhere. “A few days before the summer transfer window deadline, I was given the green light to leave on loan. On the final day I went to VVV-Venlo and immediately had a very good feeling at the club.”
Huisman (left) has played 59 official matches for Vitesse so far.
Huisman signed his first professional contract with Vitesse in the summer of 2020 at the age of seventeen, after which a stormy development presented itself. “A month later I turned eighteen and I was allowed to join the first team in preparation,” Huisman recalls. “I scored four times in those games and gave just as many assists. Then I was told by Letsch that I was stuck in the selection.” His debut for the Arnhem team followed on the second day of the 2020/21 Eredivisie season, when he was allowed to substitute for Loïs Openda one minute before the end. “You work hard all your youth to finally make your debut. Edward Sturing was a trainer, because Letsch had corona. It was a very short raid. It was a nice moment, but then I really got the chance.” Huisman was successively in the starting lineup against ADO Den Haag, PSV and Willem II, matches that were all converted into a win. “These duels were more valuable to me, because I was able to show myself well in the base.”
In his first season, Huisman made twenty Eredivisie appearances, the vast majority of which as a substitute. Last season he played 23 league matches on behalf of Vitesse. Despite the fact that Huisman was never an undisputed basic player under Letsch for a longer period, he has learned a lot from the current trainer of VfL Bochum. “Letsch opted for a 5-3-2 system, which worked very well for him,” Huisman says. “The focus was more on losing the ball. If we didn’t have the ball, a lot of pressure and counterpress. Then you notice that you are getting better in the defensive aspect and you have to take your moments in front of goal. I found myself quite strong in that at one point. I gained a lot of European experience and made minutes, especially in the second season. There was a phase when I was in the starting line-up for seven or eight games in a row. After the winter break I lost my place again, but you still make a lot of minutes.” Huisman now takes those flying hours with him at the VVV. “I gained a lot of experience at Vitesse, you learn certain clever things, take a step to the left or right. It’s very small details.”
Vitesse experienced an extremely successful Conference League campaign last season, of which Huisman also has fond memories. “We played in the qualifying rounds for the Conference League against Anderlecht and Dundalk, which was a great experience for me to experience from the bench. I didn’t expect that many minutes in the group stage, but away from Stade Rennes I got the chance and scored, then I got even more playing minutes in the Eredivisie, KNVB Cup and Conference League. I was also accurate against Mura, then I thought: hey i like it”, says the midfielder enthusiastically. “I also made minutes when I visited AS Roma, that’s such a different atmosphere. You enter the Stadio Olimpico, there are fifty thousand people in the stadium and you walk up those stairs… Then you get goosebumps. Holy shit, you are there, I thought. For me that was a very nice experience as a young boy.”
Huisman in duel with AS Roma striker Tammy Abraham.
The fact that Huisman was often the ideal twelfth man for Letsch ensured that his patience was put to the test, especially last season. “Yes, on the one hand I was quite frustrated at the time, but I also knew that I had to be patient. I thought myself: I scored and played well against Stade Rennais and Mura, why don’t I play against RKC? Just to name one example. After the winter break I didn’t play for a while either, which I found very frustrating at the time. The results were also contradictory. In the end you have to be patient and then your chance will come again, but that is sometimes quite difficult for someone my age.”
According to Huisman, the choice to make minutes this season and gain experience in the Kitchen Champion Division at VVV was a conscious one. “It is a very nice competition, with many Eredivisie-worthy clubs. Everyone can beat each other, that’s actually the big difference. At Vitesse we played in the middle and play-offs for European football. At VVV-Venlo it is not very different with play-offs for promotion/relegation. In that respect, not much changes in terms of goals that we have. Only when you play against Ajax or PSV with Vitesse, you know it will be difficult.” According to Huisman, things are a lot closer together in the first division. “Now Heracles is at the top of the Kitchen Champion Division, we could have won the recent away match against them (5-3, ed.). That is the big difference between the Eredivisie and the Kitchen Champion Division. Every game is competitive, so playing these kinds of duels is very educational for me.”
Huisman therefore has absolutely no regrets about his loan to VVV. Letsch left Vitesse in mid-September and immediately switched to Bundesliga low-flyer Bochum, which may have given Huisman new perspectives if he had stayed in Arnhem. “That is in retrospect, when I left for VVV on a rental basis last summer, he was of course still the head coach of Vitesse.” In Venlo Huisman does enjoy the full confidence of trainer Rick Kruys and he immediately grew into a basic player. “I have a very good relationship with Kruys. Of course I had conversations with him and scout Marc van Hintum before I joined the club. I immediately had a good feeling about Kruys. That is extremely important, because it has a major impact on your career. He is very clear in his coaching. He can be tough at times, which I like. Don’t beat around the bush and say it like it is.”
Huisman immediately became an undisputed basic player at VVV-Venlo this season.
Huisman describes himself as ‘a midfielder who often comes in front of the goal and occasionally also takes his goal’. “I think I see the game well, I have ball skills and I have a good passing and quite a bit of walking ability. I mainly help the team with running actions and pressure. I am mainly a team player, although I can be selfish at times.” When asked about players he looks up to, Huisman doesn’t have to think twice. “Mason Mount. Of course he played for Vitesse. I really think he’s a horrible footballer, I grew up with that. I then played in the youth of Vitesse and watched every match of the first team. That was a team with Tim Matavz, Bryan Linssen and Mount, he is proof that it is possible. That you can grow from Vitesse into a Champions League winner and play a final at the European Championship.” Kevin De Bruyne is another player he looks up to, while Huisman compares himself as a type of player to Guus Til. “He is also quite tall, attacking midfielder and likes to get in front of the goal.”
Kruys has a fairly young selection at VVV. For example, there is not a single player under contract in Venlo this season. Despite his extensive Eredivisie experience, Huisman does not see himself as a leader within the selection. “I wouldn’t call myself that. I notice that I’m just having a good time and of course I contribute something, but Sven Braken is the captain. He is very important in leadership and coaching, both on and off the field. The same goes for Robert Klaasen. Of course I try to bring as much as possible in the field of football during training and in matches. Doing good things with a ball is the most important thing and I think I’ve done that quite well so far.”
Huisman’s goal is to make it to the play-offs this season with VVV – which is currently ninth. “You never know what is possible, it can be haunted in De Koel”, says the midfielder with a smile. “The personal goal is to gain as much experience as possible in the Kitchen Champion Division and I also want to help the team with goals and assists. Do I dare to mention specific figures? I don’t really like to do that, but go ahead: secretly I hope for ten goals. That would be my absolute goal at VVV.” After this season, Huisman, who has hitherto been good for two hits, normally returns to Vitesse. The Arnhemmers have a unilateral option to extend his expiring contract by one year. “The question is whether the club will take that option. I personally expect so. Then I will give everything to enforce a new contract and I want to become a basic player.”
Passport
Name: Daan Huisman
Club: VVV-Venlo (rented from Vitesse)
Age: 20
Position: Attacking midfielder
Length: 189 cm
Number of matches: 10
Strengths: first touch, passing, decisions
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