Paul Verhaegh came in at minute 86 on Saturday 7 March during Vitesse-FC Twente: it was the last achievement of his beautiful career, it turned out afterwards. The 36-year-old Limburger was already thinking about stopping after the season, but that moment came a bit earlier than expected due to the corona virus.
“A strange situation,” Verhaegh agrees in conversation with the radio program Langs de Lijn and Surrounding. “It was also at Vitesse, my old club. Without being aware at the time that it was my last minutes as a pro,” said the brand new football pensionado. “If you play with the thought of quitting, you would like to invite family and friends. That you can have a drink after the game, at least in a way that you envision it.”
However, the closing of his career – which took him past AGOVV, FC Den Bosch, Vitesse, FC Augsburg, VfL Wolfsburg, FC Twente and a World Cup participation in 2014 – would take place on the training field. “Then I was in the car and I thought, yes, this was it. I played football for almost twenty years and then it ends in such a way. Very strange, but that is something I could not have predicted six months ago. That’s just the way it is.”
There is also no farewell match for Verhaegh. “No, I’m not busy with that. I’m not the type for that either, someone who really wants to be in the foreground. I’ve also played most of my career in Germany and had my best time.”
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