Jerdy Schouten, as the new captain of PSV, has no intention of imitating his predecessor, Luuk de Jong. However, he states that he has learned a lot from the striker, who was one of the first to congratulate Schouten on his new role.
Schouten was officially appointed captain on Saturday before the friendly match against Athletic Club. Shortly after the friendly match, he had contact with De Jong, who has not yet made a decision about his future.
“He (De Jong, ed.) just sent me a message,” said the 28-year-old Schouten at the press conference after the 2-1 victory. “He congratulated me.”
“Of course, I have learned a lot from him. But I don’t want to be a Luuk de Jong 2.0. I’m just Jerdy and I’m not suddenly going to behave differently. For example, I’m not suddenly going to do other things because I’ve seen that Luuk did it in a certain way.”
Bosz: ‘I don’t assume Luuk will come back’
With the appointment of Schouten as captain, the chance of a definitive departure of De Jong only seems to increase. Earlier, the striker, who was captain last season, also saw his number 9 go to Ricardo Pepi.
“I don’t assume that Luuk will come back,” said coach Peter Bosz after the friendly match with Athletic Club. “A new captain had to come and I asked Jerdy this week how he would feel about wearing the armband.”
“I discussed with the technical staff which player can and wants to take responsibility with us and then we came to Jerdy. We all agreed on that.”
PSV will play the last friendly match of the preparation against FC Eindhoven on Wednesday. On Sunday, the reigning national champion will start the season with the battle for the Johan Cruijff Shield against cup winner Go Ahead Eagles.