Royston Drenthe: living in a glass house

The waiters, the reception desk people, the concierge, the porter…he shakes everybody’s hand when he walks in the Mirasierra Hotel. “Hi, I am Royston, todo bien?”

Little Suriname boys in a huge Audi Q7 are rare in Madrid. And certainly when they also play for Real Madrid. “They recognize me everywhere, literally. Even on the highway. I’m driving, like, 120 km per hour. This bus with craftsmen overtakes me and they all wave and shout hey Royston…”

And don’t get him wrong. He doesn’t want to run away from it. He is still the open, hyperactive kid from the street. Approachable to anyone. But, sometimes he can’t just hang around. “That’s tough, you know. There 6 million people in this city and they all seem to watch all your moves. Some players never go out, never hit the city. I do, I love hanging in the city. I love to have people around me. I always had friends over… But sometimes it’s just better to lay low a bit.”

Lately, more and more rumors appear that Real wants to lose him. Manager Schuster hardly started him and Drenthe would have a hard time living the disciplined life of the top athlete. Last Wednesday though, he played against Partizan Belgrado, in a friendly. He played well, scored the 2-0 and is part of the group for the away game against Atletico Bilbao (Real won that match 0-1 thanks to a Ruud van Gol goal).

“Let’s put it this way,” Drenthe explains, “some things are true, some are partly true and some are false. I had a meeting with the manager this week. He misses the happy-go-lucky Royston, he told me. The Royston he met when I just arrived. But no worries, he told me, we’ll take it step by step. And that’s good.”

For four months, Drenthe lived in the luxurious hotel in Madrid, close to the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid places all new players there, until they found a home for themselves. “And I have that now. At last. Just outside of the city, that’s better for me. I live there with my dad and my mum. Great. When I open the door, I can hear their voices. Could I do it all alone, without them? Sure, easy… Or…easy, not easy… No, I couldn’t. Actually, I wouldn’t be able to do this all alone without them, what am I talking?”

Drenthe talks fast. Without hesitation. In a rapid pace. He switches from Foppe (“I owe him a lot! A big big lot!!”), Guti (“He knows all the good spots in town”) and his niece Vallery. “She is eighteen years old and a great singer. She’ll live here and will attend an international music school in Madrid.”

Drenthe grew into the national mascot last summer, in the Golden U21 victory. A cult here. Team manager Foppe de Haan bakc then “He is a great, unique kid.” And the Dutch people agreed. But, then Real Madrid came along with a lot of euros. The criticaster sharpened their knives. And there was only a couple of weeks between the adoration and the fierce criticism.

“ Do you know what I’d like to know,” said Drenthe. “What would others have done in my place? As if it was easy. Everyone meddled, everyone wanted to give me advice on the matter. And I was doubting. I mean, I am a Feyenoord boy…. Trainer Fraser, Korneev, Erwin Koeman…these men always supported me. Feyenoord is my club. I was so proud. But…Real Madrid, eh? What would you have done?”
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On the Bernabeu stadium the words are placed in neon: “El mejor club de la historia”. The biggest club ever… And still, Royston Drenthe can be flabbergasted with what he sees. His dad knew it immediately: the chance of a lifetime. Take it!

“I love going back to Rotterdam. I was there for Nederland – Luxembourg. I was nervous to enter De Kuip. I mean, you never know how Feyenoord fans react right?”

The last weeks of the transfer period were tough. Die-hard Feyenoord fans called him a traitor, a money-lover. “I could sort of understand that. It wasn’t easy. Everybody had an opinion. And that’s all good, but suddenly I read quotes from anonymous people on websites about how I thought I was Jesus… Well, I don’t!”

The street kid from Rotterdam ended up in the glass house of Real Madrid. A 20 year old kid. “I knew that Real was a big club, but I never guessed how big that is, really. I am suddenly famous. That’s my reality. It is weird.”

Royston gets to learn how to enjoy himself at home. “It’s good. We have lots of family dropping in. Aunty Hellen was here, and she can cook, man! Sometimes we play games, card games, poole, you know… Most of my mates from Rotterdam dropped by already and I have good friends here too. Lennon Alvares, the street basketball player and Boramy, a kid from Cambodia who helps me with all sorts of stuff.”

Drenthe doesn’t regret having made the jump, even if he doesn’t play a lot and Feyenoord is doing so well in Holland. “I follow them, of course, and it’s great for the team that they do well. But this is my transformation year. My time will come.”

Foppe de Haan will visit Royston in the near future too. “I want to see how he’s doing there. How he lives, you know.” De Haan always spends some one on one time with Drenthe before a match. “Yeah, I want to assess how he is. Gauge him. See, he is very extroverted. He knows everyone and everything. He has three cell phones… Sometimes he is too busy with the outside world, but he really is a wonderful kid. His mentality is top notch. He trains well and is really driven. Probably too driven! He needs to prove the public why Real Madrid signed him, you know. That kind of thing… But, Drenthe needs an audience. He is an artist. He is not in it for the money, but for the love of the game. But, if the stands are empty, he won’t be able to perform at his best. Which is not a disaster, it comes with his territory.”
The step from Feyenoord to Madrid was big. “But, it was his own choice,” says De Haan. “He is very flexible. He is a fast learner and is good in connecting with people. He will find his way there. But, it is big there. And you need to be strong. Sometimes, he needs to really do his best to tackle that, is my impression…”

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