“He has to do what he likes best,” says father Kees Veenvliet. Yet he admits that he might have hoped for a different course. “The football world is a beautiful world where you can earn a lot of money. But this is also a great opportunity to make something of it.”
Ungained
Dylan often hears it: giving up a career with such a salary, not many people understand that. “It’s nice if you have it, but in the end luck is more important,” says Dylan himself. “And do something that you like.”
“Everyone sees it as something that has failed. I am very grateful for the things that I have learned as a result. At a young age you are becoming very mature,” says the mechanic in training.
He looks back on special moments that he was allowed to experience. “The tournaments I have had, I have been abroad a lot. For example, Xavi Simons played football, those are guys who are now world top. I think that’s just really cool.”
No technical background
KLM has been eager for ages for aircraft technicians. Because Dylan has no technical education, he is fully trained.
“It is surprising of course, if a footballer wants to go a technical direction,” a colleague responds. “Let him prove that he can do it. And we hope it works out well and that we can enjoy it for years.”
Return to professional football
Whether he has never regretted? “Yes, very often. Purely because I just like playing football. Sometimes I miss the adrenaline.” That is why he is now playing football at the local club CVV Zwervers.
Yet Dylan supports his choice. At the age of eighteen he already stopped at NEC, but came back after a while. “Then I called the club and said that I was sorry. I didn’t chose the best day to tell it – the roof had collapsed from the stadium and they had lost Vitesse – but I was allowed to come back after consultation and played there for almost two years.”
“At that time I found out that I was exactly against the same things. So it was clear to me. It took a long time, but I am now behind my choice.”