A day after the arrival of Sydney van Hooijdonk, Henk Veerman closed the door at sc Heerenveen behind him. The tall striker will sign with FC Utrecht for 2.5 years, which pays 350,000 euros for him.
FC Utrecht tried to attract Veerman a few years ago, but the switch then failed due to the asking price of the Frisians. Veerman then moved to Sankt Pauli in Germany to return to Heerenveen in mid-2020. Veerman has scored seven goals in twenty matches this season.
Dream
With the move to Utrecht, Veerman’s long-cherished wish has come true. It was the dream of the 30-year-old Volendammer to one day wear the Utrecht shirt as a tribute to his best friend Jan Schilder, with whom he played in the youth of FC Volendam.
Schilder was a big fan of the Domstedelingen, but committed suicide when he realized that he would not make it to professional football.
“He always had an opinion, also on the football field. That clashed with trainers and so his dream to become a professional fell apart,” Veerman said in an interview with Noordhollands Dagblad in 2013.
“He was worried about that. I talked about that with his father Kees. He said: ‘It was in his head that Jan could no longer become a professional. Then I said: ‘Nonsense, even I can save that, so he could do it too’.” But I was playing with the Sunday amateurs and he said, ‘You’ll never make it.’ Then I promised Kees to make a serious attempt.”
