Royston Drenthe: “I wasn’t ready to be a professional. I thought I was God”

Former Real Madrid winger Royston Drenthe, who arrived at the club in 2007 with high hopes, spoke to Italian outlet ‘La Gazetta dello Sport’, and in the interview, spoke at length about what went wrong with his Real Madrid career.

“I wasn’t ready to be a professional,” Drenthe said. “I thought I was God, but I also liked to party and to stay at the top you can’t combine both things.

“It was 2007 and I was 20 years old, I was at the height of my career. A feeling of madness that is difficult to explain, it was a dream to walk into a galactic locker room. These are memories that I will never forget and will always be in my heart.

“There is a footballer’s life and a personal one, you can mix them up to a certain point. The most difficult thing for me was understanding that I had to change my life immediately. Now, I realize that I was not correct, I made mistakes, life is short and you have to be professional.”

Drenthe was a highly promising footballer, but as the Italian paper writes in the same article the interview took place, he had drug problems and partied quite a bit. His rapping career also often took priority over his football life.

“When you are 20 years old and nobody has ever taught you how to act, it becomes difficult to learn... Raúl was an example; Míchel Salgado was like a brother and Guti was my father.

“I played with Cannavaro, Van Nistelrooy, Ramos, Marcelo, Raúl, Guti, Sneijder, Casillas... Players who were legends. Also with Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema... It was a dream to play with all of them.”

Drenthe also made it a point to state he loves Real Madrid, and is still a fan of the club.

“There was everything, but I was very happy,” Drenthe explained. “Madrid is the best club in history and I played for them. No one can erase that. There are megacracks who have dreamed of playing for Madrid and have never achieved it. I did achieve it and I enjoyed it a lot, because I lived a dream there. I will always carry Madrid in my heart. I am a Madrid fan”.