Saturday 3 September 2011

Welcome to Everton, Royston Drenthe

Royston Ricky Drenthe. The man once described by Spanish football pundit Marco Ruiz as 'a bad boy with the heart of a football pitch". The man who once returned from holiday to find messages such as "son of a bitch", "bastard" and "mercenary" in spray paint on his house.

And the man who, when asked "how often do you have sex?", replied "with my wife, you mean?"

Everton's deadline day arrival certainly comes with an off-the field reputation to rival Mario Balotelli. More on that later, but first let's take a look at his on the field credentials.

Drenthe first came to the world's attention back in 2007 after a €14m transfer to Spanish giants Real Madrid. On his arrival at the Bernabéu, Madrid's sporting director Predrag Mijatović proclaimed that the latest Galáctico was "the prototype of the modern player".

Originally a left-winger, Drenthe can now also operate as a left full-back - something that could prove very useful if, God forbid, Leighton Baines suffers an injury. Drenthe will, I assume, play on the left-hand side of midfield for Everton, although he may be asked to play on the right at times as Moyes does like to switch his wingers around.

Drenthe is probably most noted for his raw pace. A very direct and skilful player who loves to take his marker on, he must be a defender's nightmare. As explained in the wonderful blog The Executioner's Bong, he could be the Charles N'Zogbia we never were able to sign.

Prior to his big-money move to Madrid, Drenthe had been plying his trade with Feyenoord. He had been there since the age of 13 - apart from a two-year spell with feeder club SBV Excelsior after being told his future at Feyenoord was in doubt.

It was at Excelsior where Drenthe was first deployed as a left full-back rather than a winger. His success in the new position led to him being asked to re-join Feyenoord, an invitation he accepted. In the next two seasons Drenthe established himself in the first-team and earnt a call-up to the Dutch national under-21 side, with whom he won the Under-21 European Championship.

Drenthe was soon a target for La Liga giants Madrid and the transfer was helped by Drenthe's threat to take Feyenoord to court if they would not let him go. He scored a wondergoal on his debut in Spain and featured regularly for the first season. However, he then fell behind Brazilian Marcelo in the pecking order and was last season loaned to Hércules.

In Alicante everything changed. Drenthe started playing, for a start. He scored the winner against Real Sociedad and grabbed an assist at the Nou Camp in Hércules' stunning 0-2 triumph over Barcelona. His pace and trickery proved a nightmare for La Liga defences and he soon became a huge favourite with his new fans.

Indeed, when Real Madrid barred him from playing against them in one of those petty contract clauses, Drenthe offered to cough up the 2m penalty himself. In the fans' eyes, he could do no wrong. He was caught driving at 160km per hour and ignoring 4 red lights. He was let off. The fans laughed with him when he made the quip about being an adulterer (see second paragraph) and when he said "I'm 23. Of course I go out. And why would I go out to sit on a sofa?"

He even had his own fan club (see below). Fan 'blacked' themselves up, purchased Drenthe wigs and wore yellow t-shorts inscribed with the message: "I heart Roy". Racist, but this was in Spain. And Roy didn't seem to mind. After all, Sergio Ramos does it.


His time at Hercules was going swimmingly - on and off the pitch. That was, until he returned from a Christmas break to find messages such as "bastard", "clown" and, disturbingly, "KKK" written in spray paint on the front of his house.

The reason: Drenthe was on strike. He claimed that he had received just 1/6th of the wages that Hércules owed him and refused to accept the club's promise to pay 50% of his year's earnings in a lump sum at the end of the season. Drenthe's bond with the club and its fans had been destroyed. As for his future at the club, well, the writing was - quite literally - on the wall.

We have on our hands a clearly talented footballer. That is not in question. You do not get signed by Real Madrid if you are not talented, nor do you do this.

The question is, can we keep his off-the-field antics to a minimum on Merseyside? He sounds like a more talented version of Andy van der Meyde, but fans, players and the manager alike will be hoping that we will be able to appreciate his footballing merits rather than being exposed to his 'bad-boy' ways.

Anyway, I am more than willing to give him a chance. In fact, I am very excited to see him in action along with Baines on the left-hand side. He is a free agent at the end of the year and so if everything goes well it could prove to be a very astute bit of business indeed.

Welcome to Everton, Royston Ricky Drenthe.

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