Brentford defender Sepp van den Berg has detailed his difficult start to life at Liverpool when he moved to Merseyside as a 17-year-old, available to read in the Bournemouth programme this weekend.
The centre-back moved to England from Holland as a teenager, living alone, with his friends and family over 300 miles away. He discussed this and the other hidden challenges that come with being a professional footballer.
“I know I’m very privileged. I’m living the dream,” Van den Berg acknowledged.
“But it’s not always as easy as it looks. For example, when I first moved to Liverpool as a 17-year-old; looking back, it was very difficult. I had some tough times there.
“At first, I was training with the first team and everything was amazing, it couldn’t get any better. My dreams came true: I was playing for one of the biggest teams in the world.
“But then I got dropped into the reserves and people started to forget about me a little bit.
“And then you come home… I lived alone, I had no one to talk to. That was hard for me.
“I struggled with that quite a lot because I was used to being surrounded by a big family where there’s a lot going on and there was always lots of people around me.
“I didn’t talk to anyone about my feelings at the start, which made things really hard. I was just in my own head, coming home and just staring at the walls with nothing to do."
But, fortunately, a fellow Dutch defender, Virgil van Dijk was there to support him - on and off the pitch - during a difficult time as a youngster living in a new country.
“Van Dijk made me feel really welcome,” Van den Berg stated.
“I remember, on my first day, he said to the kit man, ‘Make sure his place in the dressing room is next to mine’, and it was those small things that made me feel more at home.
“From a footballing perspective, it was just watching him in training and in matches, he was the best defender in the world at that stage… those moments will always stay with me.
“Watching what he does, how he plays, how he speaks, how he leads the team - to see that up close was priceless.”
You can read the full interview in the Bournemouth programme, which is available to buy around the ground before the game on Saturday, or online at shop.brentfordfc.com.
ICYMI: Buzz Bee has been taken by the Beekeeper - but who's under the mask? It's your job, along with the Brentford squad, to follow the clues across the Bees' 2024/25 programme covers to try and find out.
On each programme cover, members of the squad will be following riddles across west London, which will eventually lead them to the club's mascot - and the identity of the Beekeeper - on the final day of the season.
Clues and hints - big and small - will be scattered across each programme cover for you, the supporters, to work out who has snatched Buzz.
And, if you do, you could be in with a chance of winning a shirt signed by the Brentford first-team squad. So make sure to buy a copy, keep your eyes peeled, and study every last corner of the cover!
Submit your answers on X with the hashtag #WhoTookBuzz, along with the name of your suspect. All correct answers will be put in a draw at the end of the campaign, with the winner securing the prize.
Programmes will be available inside and outside the ground - as well as from the Bees Merchandise Kiosk and the Bees Superstore - our sellers will be accepting contactless payments only.
The subscription includes all 19 of the Bees' Premier League home games, as well as any cup games for the first team at Gtech Community Stadium this season.
Programmes will be sent via first class the day before each fixture. Please expect 3-5 working days to receive your order. This is UK delivery only.
Individual issues will be available in-store and online for those needing to fill any gaps in their collection.