Source: Daily_Mail
DIRK KUYT TALKS TO MATT LAWTON: On almost shunning football for fishing, graft over glory, respect f
The Dutch never really rated Dirk Kuyt. His father thought he was pretty good. Good enough to at least give football a go before joining him at the wheel of a North Sea fishing trawler.
And there was one particular coach, a little later on, who ignored the advice of his colleagues and took a gamble on him.
But most of them thought he was distinctly average. A forward without any flair. A forward who might make it into the first team of a leading amateur club if he worked hard, but not much more than that. Nowhere near the kind of level that enables you to score in a Champions League final and win more than 50 international caps.
The day after celebrating two more goals for Holland in a World Cup qualifier against Macedonia, the Liverpool man reflects on the years of rejection and a period in his life when even he didn't think he was up to that much.
'When I was a kid I adored AC Milan,' says Kuyt with a beaming smile.
'They were winning everything with some great Dutch players. Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard. But I always knew I was never going to be like one of the greats. Look at a player like Van Persie. He's maybe not as good as Cruyff but he's a typical Dutch player. He has the skill and the talent. But that's not me. I told my father I wanted to be like him, a fisherman. But when I was 11 he said I should stay on the land and try to become a footballer. He said I had a decision to make.
