FOOTBALL – Goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen wants to stay in the picture at the Dutch Juniors. That is why he moved from England to Belgium last winter.
In three years, goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen (22) moved from Emmen no less than four times. After FC Emmen’s debut season in the Eredivisie, he made a mega transfer to Ajax. After two seasons, he moved from Amsterdam to Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion. In order to get more playing minutes, he is now rented out to the Belgian KV Oostende.
“We came to a point at Brighton where we wondered: are we going to continue like this?”, Scherpen responds to his move to Belgium. “Am I just going to continue to develop, train and play some matches in the U23 every now and then, or do I choose a club where I could play regularly? And now we are here.”
Head over heels to Belgium
In the last hour of the transfer window, the deal between Brighton and Ostend was finalized and Scherpen had to head straight for Belgium. “We filled the car, brought dogs along, and a friend and everything was finished at a quarter to twelve”, Scherpen laughs.
He immediately played the first game, but was also sidelined twice after that. “It was a make-up match and for that I was not allowed to play – after my winter transfer. And because my replacement kept the zero in that game, I was not allowed to play the next game either.”
Young Orange
The temporary transfer to Belgium also has everything to do with his ambitions at the Dutch Juniors. “I want to stay in the picture. That is a nice stage to show myself. Also to the Netherlands, where they may have forgotten me sometimes. And also towards the European Championship next summer. It is also important for myself to know that I still belong to the top of the Netherlands at that age.”
Goalkeeper coach
At KV Oostende, Scherpen has to deal with the German goalkeeper coach Eberhard Trautner (55). He himself was under the bar at VfB Stuttgart for decades. First as a youth keeper, later he played 31 games in the main squad and then became a goalkeeper coach. Before coming to Ostend, he was also active as a trainer at Leipzig.
“I was positively surprised at the first training,” says Trautner. The keeper from Drenthe measures two meters and six centimeters but is not a thin lanky. “Most tall keepers are not that agile. But he moves very well. With his height, he can easily oversee the game situations, which is an advantage.”
Trautner does think that the fire is sometimes still lacking at Scherpen. “He has to look for the ‘tiger’ in himself. He has to be a bit more aggressive and show the world that he can become a top goalkeeper.”
Scherpen sees it differently. “I’m sober. I don’t think you can just change someone’s character,” he reacts resignedly. “I’ll stay myself and then that tiger will come out on its own.”