Sometimes it seems like things are destined to be, and this definitely applies to the ‘Seedorf’ name when it comes to AC Milan.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport recall, Denzel Seedorf was born on May 25, 2007. Two days before holding him in his arms for the first time, his dad Clarence had raised the latest Champions League won by Milan to the sky of Athens with the same hands.
Clarence is of course a Dutch champion who has written history with the Rossoneri, while his son Denzel dreams of being a player and making his debut at San Siro one day. On Sunday, for the first time, he trained with the first team under the orders of Paulo Fonseca.
Seedorf junior is following in his father’s footsteps on the pitch too: he plays as a midfielder like his father, although with different characteristics. Clarence’s class is obviously still light years away, while Denzel is more inclined to get into spaces and look for goals with late runs.
For now he’s trying his hand at AC Milan’s Under 18s (he scored against Roma this season), a club he joined at the age of 12. Fun fact: despite being born in Milan, little Seedorf also has a Dutch and Brazilian passport (his mother Luviana is from Rio de Janeiro).
In an interview a few months ago with Globo Esporte, he confessed that he feels more green and gold than orange: “The national team? If one day I had to choose, I’d say Brazil. I speak Portuguese and not Dutch, I love Brazilians and their culture. In fact, I live the Carioca culture at home.”
Denzel’s name, however, is also on the notebooks of the selectors of the Italian youth teams. So, if he were to really keep his promises, one day Italy could give him a shirt. For now, however, he has to do well with the red and black shirt and doesn’t feel the pressure of his important surname.
In the same interview, he spoke of his dad who ‘never forced me to do anything’, adding: “In fact, he would have liked me to play tennis and not football. But he still supported me and is happy with my path.”
The road is still long, but Seedorf junior looks to the future with optimism: “I know that to become a footballer you need to have a certain mentality. But I don’t think I would be at Milan if they hadn’t seen something in me.” In the meantime, the first taste of Milanello has already arrived.
