The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Sport Saturday
Interview ‘Dad’s name has always been motivation to me’
Justin Kluivert knows he will often be compared to Patrick but main focus is on helping Bournemouth hit new high
Justin Kluivert has a simple explanation for why he joined Bournemouth – “it was love at first sight,” he says, laughing. There is a lot of laughter as the forward explains what it is like to be the youngest player to score in Europe’s top five leagues, the “stability” he now needs in his career – and life as the son of the great Patrick Kluivert.
“It is not recommendable,” Kluivert says of his extraordinary tour of Europe that has taken him from Ajax to Roma and then to loan spells at RB Leipzig, Nice and Valencia before he finally made a permanent move in the summer to Bournemouth.
During each loan the clubs wanted to buy him – only for the coach to leave ( Julian Nagelsmann from Leipzig to Bayern Munich and Christophe Galtier from Nice to Paris St- Germain) or, in the case of Valencia, terms not being agreed.
Kluivert could also have been in the Premier League even earlier, before he moved to Spain. “I was going to go to Fulham [in August 2022],” he says. “Everything was agreed and then I was told, ‘ You haven’t got a work permit’, probably because of Brexit and so on. To this day I don’t really know why and that was a pity because I was looking for a fresh start and a Premier League move.
“At the last moment it collapsed and I had to make a quick decision but didn’t want to make a crazy decision so I went on loan again, this time to Spain and a beautiful season with Valencia. They also wanted me to stay, I would have loved to have stayed but in football a lot of things happen – how much does he cost? – and at that moment Bournemouth were like: we have a plan, you are someone we need. That was all I needed to hear.
“Bournemouth were interested in me very early and 100 per cent and for me that was enough. I wanted to be at a club and not on loan. I didn’t have to think twice and I was so motivated and also because the club has a lot of ambition, which I also have. I am 24 and looking up from now on and I want to be at a club that is in the same direction.
“Next year there will be a new training ground, then a new stadium, and there are the players they attract. That speaks louder than words. Everything is looking good.”
Indeed it is. Under new head coach Andoni Iraola – another factor in Kluivert signing – Bournemouth are flying after a difficult start. They are away to Nottingham Forest today and are the Premier League’s form team with 13 points from their past five games, having taken only six from their previous 11. It is some turnaround.
“There is a lot of stuff to get used to for the coach especially, he’s at the front of the team,” Kluivert says. “Then when you win some games you get a feeling, ‘All right, this is how we play’.”
Bournemouth’s faith in Iraola, recruited after he turned down a new contract at Rayo Vallecano in Spain, impressed Kluivert.
“It’s not like we lose three or four games and they want to change the coach,” he says. “They want to give him time and that’s the key thing.”
Iraola’s appointment was announced just four days before Kluivert was disclosed as Bournemouth’s first summer signing.
Although not ideal, the moves around Europe have, Kluivert claims, made him a better player: “At Ajax I was a real winger. At Roma I got to know different positions: No 10, inside winger, second striker. I have learnt a lot.”
Kluivert’s recent goal against Sheff i e l d Un i t ed made him only the third player to score in the top five European leagues and by far the youngest at 24.
Who are the others? “Jovet ic,” Kluivert says with Stevan Jovetic having scored for Fiorentina, Manchester City, Sevilla, Monaco and Hertha Berlin. And the other? Romanian striker Florin Raducioiu, who achieved the feat with several Italian clubs, including Brescia, then Espanyol, West Ham United, VfB Stuttgart and Monaco.
“OK, but I am the youngest to do it. When I am speaking you would think I am 34 or something but I am 24. I have at least 10 years to give my all,” Kluivert says.
Kluivert’s father also played in those five leagues – most famously for Barcelona and Newcastle United – having also started his career with Ajax, and Justin knows there will be comparisons.
“He was a very famous footballer and you feel it everywhere you go,” he says. “Sometimes people call me ‘Patrick’ and then say, ‘Ah, sorry, it’s Justin’. Everyone has heard of my dad and I get that comparison. ‘Are you going to be as good as your dad?’ they say, but that’s OK. I admire how good he was and the only pity is I never saw him play, although I have watched every clip on YouTube.
“I have lived with the name and for some it can feel like a pressure but for me it was a motivation to show I am my own good footballer. Not because of my dad. That is not why I was at the Ajax academy. It was because I worked my ass off. I don’t feel the weight of the name on my shoulders.”
Kluivert is one of four sons: Quincy, the eldest, is a DJ, then Justin and then Ruben, a defender for Dordrecht in the Eredivisie, and Shane, another forward, who is 16 and has just signed for Barcelona.
“We could make a great five-aside team,” Kluivert says. “We have some defenders in the family. My dad? The No 9.” What about Quincy? “He’s also good at football [and was at the Ajax academy],” Justin says. “We can still play, at least three of us, in the [ Netherlands] national team together. There is time, so who knows?”