LIVERPOOL Wijnaldum so happy at Anfield he gets homesick when he’s in Holland
GINI WIJNALDUM is so settled at Liverpool that he now gets homesick when he returns to Holland.
The Dutch midfielder, who is set to open talks about a new Anfield contract, has become an adopted Scouser since he arrived at the club in a £14.5million deal from Newcastle almost five years ago.
Even aged 29, Wijnaldum feels he still has another nine years of playing at the top level – and he would love to spend most of them wearing the famous Reds shirt.
Wijnaldum said: “I am so happy at Liverpool. I have integrated in a fantastic way.
“I really feel at home here – and in England. In fact, I feel so at home that, when I travel to Holland to see my family, I soon feel I want to go back ‘home’.
“I now consider home as the place where I live in England. What I’m experiencing at Liverpool right now is absolutely special and unique.
“We all want to play at the highest level, we all want to win big trophies – but I am actually doing it.
“It is my dream to stay fit and keep playing at this really high level, just like Clarence Seedorf, Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Cristiano Ronaldo.
“I want to be still playing at the highest level when I’m 38.”
Wijnaldum helped the Reds lift the Champions League trophy last season, and Jurgen Klopp’s men are now closing in on their first top-flight title since 1990.
“The question is no longer if it will happen, but when it will happen,” said Wijnaldum, in an interview with Dutch television station RTV Rijnmond.
“I can see myself finishing my career at one of my old clubs, like Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven or Sparta Rotterdam.
“Sometimes I look at my old clubs in my hometown Rotterdam and I think it would be beautiful to spend my last seasons there.
“In Holland, I have played for three clubs and I have good memories – but I can only choose one.”
Yet Wijnaldum almost quit football as a youngster because his youth coach at Eindhoven played him on the wing.
At one point, he thought about joining the circus.
Wijnaldum explained: “I was really unhappy and not enjoying it any more. I was thinking, ‘Why am I still doing this? Do I still want to be a footballer?’
“I did really think about it, but I did not have a Plan B.
“The only other job I wanted was to become an acrobat
“But, in the end, my nan would not let me do it because she said that I could break my neck!”
Heart-to-heart discussions with Dutch 1974 World Cup legends Willem van Hanegem and Wim Jansen eventually put Wijnaldum back on his journey to the top of the Premier League.
He added: “Thanks to Willem and Wim, I found my love for the game again and I learned how to enjoy my football again.
“I spoke to Willem almost every day and I am still in touch with him now. He is probably the most critical person I know – but I like that.
“I can handle that because it makes me better all the time.”