Perr Schuurs has spoken about his time at Ajax as Torino prepare to restart the Serie A season after the Christmas break, Voetbal International reports.
The young defender spent four years at Amsterdam after moving to the Eredivisie champions from Fortuna Sittard at the age of 17 before making the move to Italy for Turin.
Schuurs, now 23, reflected on his time at Ajax and how much of an impact it had on him as a promising teenager climbing up the ranks – something that had a bigger impact on him than moving to Italy with his girlfriend Roos.
He said: “Funnily enough, this step feels smaller than when I went from Limburg to Amsterdam at the age of 17. That was the first time I went away from home. At Ajax, I developed as a player, but perhaps even more as a person.
“I was a boy from Limburg, a tad modest. Of course I regretted not always playing at Ajax. But in the first years I didn’t dare say anything about that.”
“I didn’t step up to the coach either. Maybe I was too sweet. That did change later. Then I entered the conversation with Erik ten Hag. Not to be tricky, but to ask what I could do to increase my chances. I have become a lot more mature in recent years.”
The player has clearly taken those lessons on board both on a personal-level and on a football-level too.
He added: “The other day we had two days off around an international period. I had to go to the Netherlands and went to the coach to ask if we could train an hour earlier, so I could catch my flight. Four years ago, I would never have dared to do that. The trainer thought it was fine. I also learned to deal with criticism. They are just words.”
