Gianni Zuiverloon hopes signing for West Brom will help his international chances

Graham Hill
Sunday Mercury
Wednesday 16 July 2008

Gianni Zuiverloon hopes joining Albion will speed up his chances of wearing the orange of Holland for years to come – but he admits when he was six years old the future was yellow!

Zuiverlooon’s introduction to big-time football came when his mother wanted to find him a club to train with.

So she picked up the Dutch Yellow Pages, let her fingers do the walking and found Feyenoord’s name listed there.

She phoned them up and young Zuiverloon was offered a trial quicker than you can say 118-118.

And the rest is history with coach Ruud Gullit eventually giving Zuiverloon his full debut as a 17-year-old.

Zuiverloon will always be grateful to Gullit for that chance, even though the Holland Under-21 star had to develop his game at two other clubs before Baggies boss Tony Mowbray took him to The Hawthorns last week in a £3.2 million move from Herenveen.

Right-back Zuiverloon maintains he has had towork hard for the opportunity to play in the Premier League.

But he knows his mother’s chance phone call also opened an important door.

“When I started out in the game, it was all down to the fact that my mother picked up the phone book to try and find me a club to join!” recalled Zuiverloon, 21. “She didn’t know much about football and picked the first team she came to, that happened to be Feyenoord.

“They said I could come along for a trial. I was only six years old at the time, but it went well, They said I could stay. But even though it seems easy, I have had to work hard for what I have achieved and know I want to make the most of this move.

“Before I took up football though, I was doing well at karate and considered other sports but I’m happy the way it worked out.”

Zuivleroon heads off to the Olympics this month with the reigning European Under-21 Champions.

And he makes no secret of the fact that he wants his performances at Albion to be noticed by the full Holland squad with the World Cup just two years away.

Zuiverloon put the 32nd and decisive penalty past Scott Carson against England at his former home ground in Herenveen last year when Holland won a marathon semi-final shoot-out to reach the enal. And now he wants Olympic glory in Beijing.

“I still have good memories of the long penalty shoot-out against England, I still have the DVD and watch it back sometimes, but that’s usually if I am very bored at the time!” he said.

“It’s a good feeling to see that game again, it was an unusual game but a great match to play in.

“That was a good team be involved with, as is the one that will go to the Olympics.

“And I deenitely want to make the step up to the full national team, that is also one of the reasons why I came to play in the Premier League. If I do well over here for Albion then maybe I’ll be selected.”

The free-thinking Mowbray may not use the ‘sexy football’ term coined by Gullit as a TV pundit during Euro ‘96.

But Zuiverloon sees comparisons between the two men when it comes to playing the beautiful version of the game.

“It was great playing for Feyenoord and for Ruud Gullit, I really looked up to him because he gave me my big break at 17,” he said. “He gave me the freedom to play as I wanted which is what I like.

“And I can see the similarities here at Albion.

The manager told me where he wants to play but I also have my freedom as well.”

Zuiverloon was loaned out by Feyenoord to RKC Waalwijk and stayed there for one eason before moving to Heerenveen two years ago.

In four seasons at the highest level in Holland, Zuiverloon played 88 matches and scored four goals.

“It was important to me that West Brom play the style of football I was used to playing,” he said. “I’m excited by the move.”