Sam Beukema, defender of Bolognaduring the long interview with Changing Room Chronicles he also told us when Arne Slot, current Liverpool manager, wanted to buy him during his time at Feyenoord: “He sent me a message. I was at AZ, he was at Feyenoord. He asked to meet me and I said yes, he had just arrived there and Feyenoord is the team I have always supported. The answer seemed easy. We met and he told me what he thought to convince me.”
He continues and concludes Beukema: “After the interview I thought I should have gone. But it wasn’t my head that spoke, but my heart. Then I calmly reflected on it and chose to stay at AZ because I believed it was better for my career, it wasn’t certain It’s his fault. His teams are strong, they press high, he always wants to play. In our meeting he showed me a video on his computer of a match at the time of Go Ahead Eagles, when I was 20 years old. I had the ball in midfield to chaos. ‘You see, you are very strong when you have no one behind you. If you are in the central situation, with people behind you, you are in difficulty and you are not at peace.’ I told him: ‘It’s true, I never thought about it.’ me is one of the strongest coaches in Europe… After the match (in the Champions League against Liverpool, ed.) I spoke a bit with Slot and he complimented me on the match, not only for me but for the team in general. We played well, unfortunately we lost, but he told me ‘Nice that we’re here in the Champions League’.”
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