–
Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at 23:00
–
Amin Younes played at Ajax for three seasons between 2015 and 2018. Despite a good start, he eventually left through the back door, but he still has fond memories of his stay in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. He is especially grateful for the valuable friendships he has built there, he reveals as a guest editor Goal and Spox. In an emotional tale, he pays tribute to the player who loved him immediately after his arrival: Abdelhak Nouri. According to the German, the youngster had everything to storm the world top, but unfortunately, as is known, this should not have been the case. Younes have their say:
“Amsterdam, July 2015. I had just started my first adventure outside of Germany and was really looking forward to my new challenge at such a big club as Ajax. I would be lying if I said I had everything under control right away. I already got quickly with an unpleasant muscle injury and did not know the city. I also had trouble with the language, but these obstacles disappeared faster than I thought because I had great teammates. They received me warmly and made me feel good in my new environment, Abdelhak Nouri first.
“Appie, as everyone called him, was only 18 years old when I arrived in Amsterdam. Almost a child. At Ajax, however, the youth players are not silent figures. They all worked in their own way to find their way to the first team. Appie was part of a group with Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt and Donny van de Beek. Outside the lines, they were inseparable, and they were incredibly good on the field. Anyone without shit in their eyes could see it: these guys are made for the top. After my training sessions I also often went to see Young Ajax, just to see them play football.
“Appie especially made an impression. He made the difference with his ball control, his dribbles and the way he controlled the game. During the training I saw him getting better and better. Appie was a great talent. A rising star, ready to conquer the world. Yet the real beauty of him was not even in his play. It was what he did off the field. He was not a boy who was endlessly busy with his phone call or immediately walked away with headphones on as so many young players do today. No, he was open to the world.
–
“He was extremely talkative, eager to learn. He absorbed everything you told him and was obsessed with his dream of making it to the top. We soon built a close relationship, not least thanks to our religion. Together with Anwar El Ghazi, another Muslim from the team, we often prayed in the dressing room. When Ramadan coincided with the training camp in 2016, we ate together in our hotel room every night. Those were wonderful moments. I liked Appie from the very first moment. He was so humble. I had never seen such an attitude with a teammate before. Not to that extent.
“He owed that quality to his roots and to his education. As a son of Moroccan immigrants, he did not grow up in the best part of Amsterdam. However, his parents taught him to look at the people around him and he learned to be satisfied with little. His older brother Mohammed once showed me the football field on which Appie learned to play football. It wasn’t good, but Appie didn’t care. During training at Ajax I always saw how much fun football gave him. At the end of the 2016/17 season he showed such good things … Then I was sure nothing could stop him.
“Unfortunately I was wrong. Unfortunately it was July 8, 2017. To me it still feels like it was yesterday. A few days after I won the Confederations Cup with Germany, I went with my father to my home country of Lebanon. Just charge the battery. I had a vacation for a while while my team was already busy. I remember how I checked my phone to see how the game against Werder Bremen went and then suddenly messages came pouring in that something terrible had happened to Appie.
–
“At first I thought that Ramadan was heavy for him or that it was just very hot that day, but then Dennis Bergkamp called me to ask to travel to the training camp in Austria as soon as possible. That trip was a disaster for me. I was so scared and prayed for my little brother, who was only just 20 years old. When I arrived at the training camp and joined the team meeting – I was the only player who came later – I saw all shocked faces. The team doctor was just explaining what exactly happened to Appie.
“Many of us immediately burst into tears. It was hellish. Especially for his three best friends: Frenkie, Matthijs and Donny, because they knew Appie even better than El Ghazi, everyone else and I. I felt an incredible emptiness, could still not realizing what had happened I still had that great footballer in my head, the number 34 player who had the world at his feet The great talent The rising world star Today Appie is no longer all that. He will never play football again, but we – his friends – will never forget him.
“I contribute to my current club [Napoli, red.] shirt number 34, to show my respect to him; to honor all our shared memories. Since the July 8, 2017 disaster, I have visited his family many times and I know he is in the best possible hands. His parents and brothers are great with the situation. I always look forward to the next visit. Who knows that one day Appie will recognize me one day and we will be able to laugh again as before. I hope it with all my heart and pray for it. For Appie, the lively child. The dreamer of the street. For my little brother. “
