ASTON VILLA v TOTTENHAM CARING DUTCH Bergwijn’s goal for sick pal
SHORTLY before his debut for Tottenham against Manchester City, Steven Bergwijn spoke to the brother of his good pal Abdelhak Nouri.
“He told me, ‘You’re going to score for Appie’, and I said, ‘OK, watch me, I’m going to score’. “I did it.”
Bergwijn and Nouri grew close after meeting as youngsters at De Toekomst, Ajax’s academy.
“We were like brothers,” added Bergwijn. “I have known Appie all my life, from when we were seven. We came into the same squad and since then we have been best friends.”
Tragedy struck, however, when Nouri suffered a cardiac arrhythmia and collapsed during a pre-season friendly against Werder Bremen in July 2017.
The then 20-year-old suffered severe and permanent brain injuries as a result of the trauma and, although he is stable now, he remains in a hospital bed and is only able to communicate by moving his mouth and eyebrows.
Bergwijn was playing in a trial game when his friend suffered that terrible fate.
He said: “Yeah, we played against RKC and I scored two.
“I was happy and, after the game, the team manager came to me and he said that this has happened. My world collapsed.
“I just waited for the calls from my agent because he went to see Appie. Then I heard two or three weeks later that he had brain damage.
“I can’t describe it. At that time, I didn’t sleep so much.
“The first weeks I was scared to play, to go out on the pitch. It was difficult, it’s still difficult. I speak to his youngest brother, Mohammed, every day, but it’s still difficult.”
Asked what Nouri was like as a player, Bergwijn’s face lights up.
He added: “Ah, fantastic player. This guy, he can do everything with the ball. If you asked him, ‘Do this’, the next day he’d say, ‘Wait’, and he would do it.”
Those who witnessed Bergwijn’s volley against City – a strike which led commentator Martin Tyler to call him Stevie Wonder – will think he is capable of the same. And he admitted he knew the effort was on its way in the moment he connected.
“If you look at the highlights, you already see me run,” he said.
“I had no time to think – just touch and shoot.”
Similarly, there wasn’t much time to think about his move to Spurs from PSV, who he had joined in 2011 after two years at Ajax.
Bergwijn said: “My father called me and said, ‘Pack your stuff, you’re going to London’.
“I said, ‘OK’. It was fast. But if Tottenham wants you, you can’t say no.
“It is an honour to be here. They have big players. In Holland, everyone regards them as big players – but now they have welcomed me.”