Jelle Van Damme played for Ajax between 2002 and 2004, alongside Maxwell, who occupied the left-back position in his second season at the club. Van Damme was then sold to Southampton for three million euros. He also went on to wear the shirts of Werder Bremen, Royal Antwerp, Anderlecht and Wolverhampton, before hanging up his boots in 2020.
On the show, he didn’t mince his words: “Maxwell is, for me, looking back over twenty years, the only left-back in my whole career of whom I had to say to myself: that one is better than me,” he said, quotes translated and reported by VoetbalPrimeur.be. He added: “When Maxwell and I played at Ajax, he played left-back in his second year. I played less, but for who I was, that person and my own progress, it was great. But when I think back on my career, he was the only player I ever said to myself: that one is better than me. Nothing to be done about it, he has to play.”
Freddy caught up with it on Monday, between two training sessions with his third provincial side (Belgium’s Sunday amateur leagues).
Well, tactically, I understand the admission. A proper left-back who can cross and get back, that comes along once a generation. Mine plays there because he’s the only left-footer in the squad, not because he can defend. One player short, I’d make the same admission as Van Damme, but I’d never say it in front of him at half-time.
The third provincial table will never say who is the best left-back in the province. Freddy already has a name in mind. He won’t say it either.
It’s true, we checked: VoetbalPrimeur.be.
