Drenthe: “It's Russia … There was vodka even on the team bus”

Royston Drenthe. From the best player in a European Under-21 to Real Madrid. Fame, opportunity and a most special trip. To soccer stardom? Not at all. Royston Drenthe passed through Madrid with more pain than glory and his career was stumbling and even small voluntary stops.

The Dutchman signed with Real Madrid in 2007 and was loaned out to Hercules in 2010, with a poor result, and then to Everton. It was July 1, 2012. The trip in the capital was coming to an end and Drenthe was running out of equipment. With no offers, he decided to go to Holland to manage his clothing store when several members of the Russian Spartak V-kavkaz arrived., which convinced him to put his boots back on. Now, in the Dutch medium Rijnmond, he explains how his time in Russia was.

It all started in his store in Rotterdam. “These guys came to see me and they loved me. They went to Rotterdam, to my clothing store for me. I had gained several kilos and I told them “It's not going to come out. I won't.” But they came up to five more times. In the end, we met at the Marriott Hotel and I told them that we would do it and I signed with them, “he assures. Thus, he joined the preseason, where he affirms that he spent it regularly. “I was just thinking 'how am I going to fix this?' (his form) I hated coming back but they helped me a lot to get there, “he recalls.

Thus, he debuted and even in his first weeks he achieved a hat-trick. “It was the icing on the cake and a way of thanking them for their help to prepare me,” he admits. ANDhis fifth game was gone … of a total of six played with the Vldadicáucaso shirt, a city located south of the European zone of the country that practically borders Georgia.

With a lively social life, this city was not very attractive to Drenthe, who only went out to play and train. “The experience taught me a lot. Look where I am now. Vladicáucaso was not a perfect place. It was a broken city. You couldn't do anything too fun out there even if you had a lot of money,” he says.

In this medium they assure that he enjoyed with other players who were then in the Russian League such as Eto'o or Boussoufa. With them he used to enjoy in the Maradona Restaurant, where his next adventure was conceived. “Sometimes we ate there. The owner was also the owner of the Reading and that's how I ended up there. Crazy, right? The pasta was delicious. If he drank vodka? Sometimes yes. There is something basic. It was not problematic at all. Even on the players' bus there was vodka. This is Russia, you know … “, sentence.

At Reading he did not hold out too long and went on loan to Sheffield Wednesday. When his contract ended, he went free to Turkey and from the Caucasus country he went to Baniyas in the United Arab Emirates. Once his contract there ended, he decided to 'retire' to return to the Dutch Xerxes Zondag. In July 2018 he signed for Sparta Rotterdam and in August 2019 he went free to the Kozakken Boys, a team in which he is currently active and which has renewed him until the end of the season.

“I feel comfortable in this team. It is a nice environment with nice people and a good group of players. Physically I am ready, even though I am getting older,” he says at 33 years old. Royston seems to regain passion.