If there is such a thing as a ‘magic potion’, it is his girlfriend’s pesto chicken pasta. Sparta goalkeeper Joël Drommel chuckles when he starts talking about it. Since this season he has added the dish to his regular match preparation, he eats it the night before every match. It’s nutritious, he likes it, and given his performance, he sees little reason to change it for the time being.
Drommel (29) is sitting in the conservatory of Nieuw Terbregge, the Sparta training complex in North Rotterdam. He just had lunch with his teammates, trained for that. He still wears his bright yellow goalkeeper kit, the stains from diving on the sleeve and hip. He brought a new set of snow-white gloves for the photo. Because “it has to look a bit nice.”
He is a man of habits. “Rituals”, as he calls them. Playing with his one and a half year old son the morning before a match. “Just take a walk, get a coffee somewhere.” A long warm-up in the stadium with the reserves, followed by breathing exercises that he receives from a private trainer. They help him calm down and focus his attention on the match.
And then, just before he finds his place under the crossbar, he repeats in his head the words that every goalkeeper probably says to himself at such moments. That he “readyThat he will be the “boss of the sixteen”, the penalty area. “That’s what you want as a goalkeeper: to be ruthless. That they just get scared of you.”
As a goalkeeper you have to be the boss of the box.
After almost seven months on loan at Sparta, opponents have every reason to do so. The goalkeeper, who was a substitute at PSV in recent seasons, has blossomed into one of the best goalkeepers in the Eredivisie. Whichever statistic you choose, Drommel scores high: 95 saves in 21 games, for example. Only FC Volendam’s goalkeeper, Kayne van Oevelen, stopped more balls.
Now that still makes some sense. After Volendam, Sparta is also the team that has given away the most chances this season – 128, according to data agency Opta. It is therefore much more striking that Drommel is also the goalkeeper with the most matches without conceding goals by a wide margin (clean sheets): nine times, including four times in the last five matches. He also has the highest save percentage of all goalkeepers in the Eredivisie.
It makes Drommel of great value to Sparta, a club that has often won its matches with minimal difference in recent months. When visiting FC Utrecht, the Rotterdam team scored the 1-0 early two weeks ago, after which Drommel had to defend that lead with six goal attempts. A few weeks earlier against NAC – also 1-0 – he made eight saves. Drommel prevented an opening goal against FC Groningen last Saturday, after which Sparta won 2-0. The club has been fifth since then, unusually high for Sparta.
In the Eredivisie, Joël Drommel is the goalkeeper with the most games without conceding goals.
Andreas Terlaak
Setbacks
Joël Drommel became a goalkeeper out of necessity. Until he was fourteen, the North Hollander played in midfield, so well that he was admitted to the youth academy of Almere City FC. But when one of the two goalkeepers of his team leaves, he decides to retrain. He will initially remain an outfield player, but will also do goalkeeper training on Mondays.
The talent runs in the family. Father Piet-Jan Drommel was also a goalkeeper, briefly a professional at Telstar in the 1980s. He arranges a private goalkeeper coach for his son and, at the age of seventeen, registers him for a talent show run by sports brand Nike. This is how he came into the picture at FC Twente, where he made his debut as a goalkeeper in the first team with barely four years of experience, in a match against Ajax (2-2). Drommel is then 18 years old.
Quite an unusual choice, so late in a youth academy
“I had also played goalkeeper in my early youth. And I was less happy as a field player, so I thought: let’s have the conversation. I have always had that I liked more than one thing. On goal or in the field, it never mattered to me.”
Most boys dream of scoring goals
“I used to have that too, you know. And now as a goalkeeper I still do. I’m still waiting for that one moment when you are behind and have to go forward in the last minute. And then you equalize.”
Can you describe that emerging talent from back then?
“He was a goalkeeper who dared to stand out. Strong in his reflexes, who could play football well. And who also took a penalty here and there.”
What did he still have to learn?
“Leadership, I think. I used to be a quiet boy. Now I dare to lead the boys here, to set up the team. That is also a matter of experience. When you are young you try to do that, but perhaps you are taken less seriously than at 29ste.”
You developed very quickly, but ended up on the bench after half a season. Too many mistakes, the trainer judged
He is silent for a moment. “You are still so young, and then you make a mistake and suddenly everyone has an opinion about you. As a young boy you are still insecure. Of course you think: I feel bad about that. But deep down it really does something to you.”
Your father once said: there is nothing worse than being the father of a goalkeeper. One mistake and your son will be burned to death.
“Yes, I think that is true.”
Once back in the starting line-up, two seasons later, you were relegated with Twente.
“Then you only hear negative things from the stands. And that is logical, at a big club. But the next season, in the Kitchen Champion Division, I could also be important again. And that is very much appreciated. Then they sing a song about you, they are all behind you. Then you feel better in your goal than if you only hear negativity behind you.”
Is it also an advantage to experience the deepest valleys so early?
“Of course you prefer not to have setbacks. But they are part of life. It also makes you stronger.”
Joël Drommel: “At the beginning of this season I wrote down in my phone how many clean sheets I wanted. I am well on my way.”
Andreas Terlaak
Frustrating evenings
The relegation is also the start of a revival. With Drommel on goal, Twente is immediately promoted again and he is named goalkeeper of the first division. From then on he is first choice, and later also captain. He is seen as a great talent and will transfer to PSV in mid-2021, for the highest transfer fee paid for a goalkeeper in the Netherlands to date (reportedly 3.5 million euros). A few months earlier he had already been called up as a reserve for the Dutch team.
What did that do to you?
“That was unique to experience. I had to shed a tear.”
Your father said on TV at the time that he saw you among the best twenty goalkeepers in the world.
“He shouldn’t have said that. You can always speak proudly about your son, of course, but this was not convenient. Because people will also think something of it. And you have also seen the other side of the coin. It can just turn around.”
That soon became apparent. At PSV you started as the first choice, but after half a season they came to the same conclusion as at Twente: too inconsistent.
“At PSV, a lot is immediately expected of you. The pressure is also much higher. You play two matches a week, you can’t just think about it if you have made a good game. Because three days later you have to go again. And you are still just a 24-year-old boy who has just joined a top club.”
You compete against Yvon Mvogo, then Walter Benitez. And if he leaves, PSV will get two new goalkeepers this summer. Doesn’t that also feel a bit hopeless?
“No, not hopeless. Because you are at a top club, everything is well arranged. You play the Champions League, you visit very nice stadiums. And I was allowed to keep in the cup, and we won it that year.”
But you don’t play most matches. A reserve goalkeeper does the warm-up, sits down on the bench and knows: that’s it for today.
“You know that you only get in if the first goalkeeper gets a red card or gets injured. And I have certainly had frustrating evenings too. That you want to go home straight away afterwards. I was happy for the other boys, and for the club, but I also thought: I don’t necessarily have to go to the players’ home. I will pack my bag and go back to training tomorrow. Because ultimately I became a footballer to play.”
How different the situation is six months later. Is a goalkeeper in the form of his life here?
“You can say that. Of course I have always played good matches, but if you look at the statistics: it is just more consistent now.”
Where do you hope this ends?
“At the beginning of this season I wrote down in my phone how many clean sheets I wanted. I am well on my way. What is Sparta’s record?” He looks at the press officer. “Fourteen? Well, that’s a lot!”
Do you also think somewhere: you see?!
“Yes, but it is not up to me. I have always given everything for PSV: never missed a training, always on time. If the boys wanted to work longer after training, I would go for goal. But I also understand the club. They want someone who has played a lot. So in the end this might be the best, for PSV and for me.”
How is this goalkeeper different from the 18-year-old?
“I don’t think I’ve gotten better at diving to the left or right. It’s more about leadership. Choosing position in your goal, reading situations well. Being more bold.”
And do you get over setbacks more easily?
“Also. Now I sometimes let a ball pass and I think: come on, Joe, you should have had that. That’s annoying, but I have to move on. I’ve gotten better at that over the years.”
Towards the end of the conversation, Drommel receives a notification on his phone. He was sent a video of his son Luca in a playground equipment. Perhaps his birth changed the most, he says. “That little one really gives me inner peace. Not that constant thought of: I have to. Because in the end he is the most important thing. No matter how bad my day was, when I come home and he comes running towards me, I have forgotten everything.”
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