Out of nothing he made his debut for Manchester United, followed up by an invitation for the Dutch national team, but Timothy Fosu-Mensah (18) says in his first big interview: “It’s not a fairytale. I’m not really surprised by it”

The Coming Man of the Dutch football does not take a holiday in Dubai, Ibiza or Miami, but sits on the couch in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, on the seventh floor in an apartment overlooking de Bijlmer. Inside it’s cozy and warm, small is beautiful. There’s a prize cabinet, a huge smart-tv, and on the wall there are some photos. Just the flip-flops prove that we’re in front of a player from Manchester United. On those, Timothy wrote his kitnumber, just next to the logo of The Red Devils. “Ofcourse I am proud”, he says, “but I don’t flaunt with it.”

De Bijlmer is for Fosu-Mensah the ideal place to unwind after a season that changed his life forever. Over here he isn’t a Mancunian but just Tojo, the boy from the hood, who played football down on the streets and football courts day and night. De district has a bad reputation. Last week someone got murdered, but de Bijlmer is especially warmth, solidarity, homecoming. “I was born in this house and don’t feel bigger or better than anyone in the district. My friends from my childhood are my friends now. In Manchester I live together with my dad. The evenings are long. We watch football on tv, or play on the Playstation. Everything for peace and focus. Occasionally I’ll go into the city, drink coffee with Rodney Kongolo and Javairo Dilrosun who play at Manchester City, but they don’t live around the corner. That’s why I am here, and not on a holiday. I live a beautiful life, but one con is that you can’t go a few staircases up or down to be with your friends. Now I can do that for a few weeks, now I can be distracted. We hang out, do nice things, go anywhere we like, laugh, have fun. No, during those times we don’t talk about my career, then I am just one of the boys. I really like it, that is recreation for me.”

Development; “It can’t go fast enough for me”

Now he does talk, for once. He realizes that a star can rise fast, just like that he became famous in Holland after his debut for Manchester United. “People talk about a fairy tale, a child’s book.” Fosu-Mensah says. “They all ask me if I am surprised about my development, that I already made my debut for Manchester United, that I got an invite for an internship with the Dutch national team in Portugal, that it all goes so fast with me.. If I have to answer honestly, I would say no. I’m happy, not surprised. It can’t go fast enough for me. My whole life I have set goals for myself, This season I was with the U-21’s of United. In that case it only makes sense what the next step will be. The only thing you can do, is work hard. And that’s what I did. And then you wait for the opportunity to arise. Louis van Gaal did that. After that you will have to play well, and I did that too. I do however realize that there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

He tells his story on the day that Manchester United announced the arrival of José Mourinho to replace the sacked Louis van Gaal. Fosu-Mensah is quiet. “I’m going to call Van Gaal. But I’m going to wait for the right moment. Unfortunately, I did not run into him at United, but I did see Marcel Bout, the scout. I told him that I owe van Gaal for eternity. Same goes for the rest of the staff, like Ryan Giggs and Albert Stuivenberg. The former talked with me a lot, like after the semi-final of the FA Cup against Everton, when I played well but also caused a penalty. “Stay on your feet in situations like that”, Giggs told me. Learned so much from him. And with Stuivenberg I watched the footage of the things I did wrong.” He did, but according to the media the senior players of Manchester United went crazy because of Van Gaal’s approach. Fosu Mensah: “I can only speak for myself, and for me Van Gaal has been really good. Yes, he was present and talked a lot, but that’s how he treated everyone, with the aim to make you a better player. For me that worked out, I can feel it.”

Now Mourinho has arrived, not known for his feeling with the youth, but a proven manager nonetheless. The Special One has already said that he is eager to work with Fosu-Mensah. Mohammed Sinouh is negotiating with Manchester United for a new and better contract. Fosu-Mensah realizes: “You’re 18 years old and you’ve already had Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho as managers. It’s simply unbelievable. I’ve never heard a player talk badly about Mourinho. I’m curious, under him I want to further develop myself into a top-player for Manchester United. That’s the next step in my plan.”

AJAX: “There was no plan”

Timothy Fosu-Mensah seemed destined for Ajax. The club who picked him up from Zeeburgia, another talent-factory. He sums them up: “Luciano Narsingh, Kenny Tete, Oussama Tannane… Zeeburgia has always had good youth. We won everything, except from Ajax. We always took a beating. Ajax had the likes of Abdelhak Nouri, Steven Bergwijn. Good players, but I stood out in those matches and was invited to join Ajax.” He passed the education with ease, same with the representing Dutch youthteams U-15, -16, -17 and -19. It was waiting for a reward, a contract, but that didn’t happen, while other players from his class did get them.

At home it wasn’t cake and sunshine either. His father took another job to keep the family rolling. When Manchester United came knocking, it wasn’t just an improvement on a sports level. Fosu Mensah: “But let me tell you, I chose for my own development. United had a plan, so did Ajax, but only when I told them I was moving to England. Yes, there are enough experts out there that think players leave too early. Let me ask you: should you ignore a chance like that? Look at Jeffrey Bruma. He is probably going to make an amazing transfer. Karim Rekik plays at Olympique Marseille. Did they turn out worse? Nathan Aké played amazing for an entire season at Watford. Is that worse than playing in the Eredivisie? I can notice that I’ve become a better player on all fronts.”

“Especially on a physical level, regarding football the step wasn’t as big. I started with the U-18s. Marcus Rashford was the first to see to me and made me feel free. On the pitch it went without saying. Just like with Ajax, we did everything with the ball, but the biggest difference was with power training. That’s an essential part of the training at United. I noticed it right away when I entered the dressing room. All the English boys we’re muscular. I was tall and skinny. And look at me now, tall but strong as well. The training in the gym is tough, but if you want to play in the Premier League you need to gain some mass. You can feel the development pretty fast, and that motivates to keep going. You want to go with the flow, you want more, more, more. Another big difference with Ajax is the artificial pitch. At De Toekomst we played a lot on that surface. In England we do everything on real grass. The ball bounces and rolls differently. It’s not that I had a lot of trouble, but it was some getting used to. I think real grass is better for the development of a player. In England I have never played on an artificial pitch.”

LOUIS VAN GAAL: “If he comes, you know that youth will get it’s chance.”

He also had the opportunity to join Arsenal. “Talks were pretty advanced, but eventually I chose for United, because Van Gaal was going to be their manager. If he comes, you know that youth will get it’s chance. Now you can say I made the right choice. Van Gaal gave debuts to 14 youth players. Fourteen! Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, me.. I owe everything to van Gaal. Just before my debut I had a chat with him. With the U-18s and the U-21s I played a lot in the midfield or central defence. Van Gaal said he had problems with the right-back position. He just knew I could play there as well. Van Gaal watched every U-21s match, he knew my qualities. And I trained with the first team when I was part of the U18s. On one day – I’ll never forget it – I was training for myself at Carrington in the indoor hall. Our coach Paul McGuiness entered, pointed to me, Marcus Rashford, Axel Tuanzebe and Devonte Redmond. “You! Report at the first team!”. That day Van Gaal wasn’t there, his assistants Stuivenberg and Giggs were in charge. Just like that I was on the pitch with all those stars, and they were normal guys who were willing to do anything to help you.”

“He’s a good listener”, Fosu-Mensah says. “To Michael Carrick, Chris Smalling, and to the Dutch guys Daley Blind and Memphis Depay. I sit in the dressing room and just listen to what everyone has to say. And especially to our captain, Wayne Rooney. I remember that in the semi-final against Everton I recovered the ball in the 44th minute. I crossed the midfield and tried to reach Rashford, but that pass was intercepted. Then Rooney approached me and said: “Timothy, 44th minute, keep the ball in the team.” Small things, but they make you a better player. And they all do it, Juan Mata, Marouane Fellaini; no one feels himself too big to help. I absolutely love that. And then you realize they have great banter as well. The dressing room from Ajax doesn’t differ that much of that of Manchester United.”

DEBUT: “I didn’t sleep that night”

In the living room Fosu-Mensah turns on the smart-tv and looks for Youtube videos of himself. “It just makes me happy”, he says. We see him dribble against Tottenham Hotspur, we see him give a great pass to Anthony Martial in the match with Everton. And we see him shaking hands with Marcos Rojo, before he comes on against Arsenal at Old Trafford. His debut. “That is the moment of my career thus far. I arrived at the club for the match on Saturday, did what I always do, got my breakfast, until Louis van Gaal asked me if I brought my club-suit. “No,” I said. About an hour later he came back and told me that I was in the squad. He asked if my dad could bring my suit. I didn’t sleep that night. All I was doing is visualize the match against Arsenal, I was that eager to play. Make my debut against Arsenal, that would be nice on my list. The next day I started on the bench, pretty nervous. During half-time Van Gaal said that I should go on the cardio, warm up my muscles. “You’re coming on soon.” When I did my warm-up on the sideline and looked around me, I got a warm feeling inside: Old Trafford, Arsenal, this was it. After that I also started in the semi-final of the FA Cup.”

Especially since the Everton match his life changed drastically. Fosu-Mensah played so well that Twitter exploded. On Instagram he has 230 thousand followers, but the fame has its cost. A player of United is as privileged as he is outlawed. The tabloids never sleep. Fosu-Mensah looks ahead. “You need to watch your steps, know who you hang out with, your world shrinks. When you’re in the city, on the airport, everyone wants something from you. That’s something you will have to learn to cope with.

COPY: “My brother will be better than me”

The sun dawns over de Bijlmer, Fosu-Mensah is heading out. He goes to the training of his little brother Paul. “He is fifteen and plays in the Ajax Youth. He’s like a copy of me, we play on the same position. He will be better than me. At least, I hope so. I really want it for him. Maybe one day we will play together at a big club, in the heart of the defence. Why not? If I learned one thing this season, it’s that everything is possible, as long as you believe.

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Sorry for any spelling mistakes. If they bother you let me know and I will change them. Also, if there will be more United related articles in Voetbal International I will translate them as well for you guys to read