From a Feyenoord goal fest to Anfield

Earlier in the season I posted the first two sections of my autobiography. Time to bring things more or less up to date…

2003-2006: FEYENOORD AND LIVERPOOL

I scored 22 goals in my first season at Feyenoord. It went really well. In the last five seasons I played in Holland I scored 20 or more goals a season. I was top scorer in 2004/05 with 29 league goals. I started that season with a hat-trick. In fact it was the first of two hat-tricks against the same club, home and away – six goals that season against De Graafschap.

I had had my first call up for the Dutch squad was when I was playing at Utrecht. But in the end I didn’t come on. That was when Dick Advocaat was manager. It was amazing because I was amongst players like Patrick Kluivert, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Roy Makaay.

In the end I made my first appearance under Marco van Basten against Liechtenstein on September 30, 2004. Playing for the Dutch team is something really special. To start with you just sit in the corner and listen. But I also knew some players from the Under-21 team. That made it a bit easier for me.

Germany 2006 was my first tournament with the Dutch team. It was great to be there. I really enjoyed it. But in the end you want results. My second start was against Portugal in the last 16.

In the qualification games I had played on the wing. But in the Portugal game I was up front. That was a really crazy game, with so many cards handed out. It was good to get to start up front but sad we lost. When you’re in a big tournament like that you just want to be involved in winning games. It wasn’t what we were expecting. We thought we’d at least reach the quarter-finals.

I found out about Liverpool’s interest in me just before that tournament. But I wanted to focus on the World Cup. After that there was contact between Feyenoord and Liverpool.

I was really happy to go to Liverpool. It was a dream come true to play in one of the biggest leagues in the world. I like England and I like the way the Premier League teams play. Playing in the Premier League was always what I wanted to do. Liverpool are one of the biggest clubs in the world. The people are very friendly and helpful – both at Anfield, and in Liverpool in general. It made it a lot easier to settle in England. We managed to find a house quite quickly because the people of Liverpool really helped us.