Ihattaren has passed the shame and speaks again: ‘I am happy’

“Does it still make sense? Am I going to make it?” Mohamed Ihattaren wondered when he was miles away from fitness, from being a top athlete. The view was cloudy, the road seemed endless. He was overweight and “yes,” says Ihattaren, he was ashamed.

An early death from a promising career was close. Then the 20-year-old failed promise received an app from Gerald Vanenburg. The former international and current technique trainer at Ajax wanted to talk. “Stop you? That’s not an option,” said Vanenburg right away.

The next day they started training. And more than that. They went for a walk, to talk. Vanenburg struck a chord with Lhattaren.

And now, six months later, he is perfectly fit for the NOS camera. After a period of media silence, Ihattaren speaks again. Without the still absent internationals, he is the big eye-catcher of Ajax during the training camp in De Lutte. He beams and says, “I’m happy.”

Ihattaren seems well on his way to giving a new impetus to his slumped career. The Utrechter caused a furore at PSV at a young age, where he made his debut under Mark van Bommel shortly before his seventeenth birthday. It was an eventful year with a much-discussed choice for the Dutch national team and the death of his father.

After the arrival of Roger Schmidt in the summer of 2020 as PSV coach, his performance was compromised. It certainly did not go well with the German, among whom the talent was not always sure of a basic place. “I don’t want to talk about that anymore,” says Ihattaren. “I have left that period behind me. I am not going to point my finger.”

Ihattaren sought solace in Italy. Juventus signed the attacking midfielder for four years in August 2021 and loaned him to Sampdoria. But things also went wrong in Genoa. He suddenly disappeared from the radar and did not play a minute for the Northern Italian club.

Was he lost? “I don’t want to say it that way,” Ihattaren responds. “I had to come to myself for a while. Of course I quickly came to PSV 1. It went quickly and I’ve been through a lot. Then there has to come a moment when you have to think for a while. How do I continue?”

Despite the growing reputation of a problem child, Ajax took care of Ihattaren at the end of January, who was rented from Juventus for a year. With option to buy. The supervision was strict. His sleeping pattern, his eating pattern, everything was taken care of. Ihattaren felt constantly surrounded by overseers.

A mirror was always held up to him: messing around for half a year or struggling for half a year? It was the last. Via Jong Ajax, Ihattaren played his way to the main squad, in which he made his first minutes in mid-April in the (lost) cup final against PSV as a substitute.

He feels in his element at Ajax and the doubts of six months ago have given way to confidence. It is expected that Ajax will take over the option of taking him over from Juventus for a few million euros.

“I’m glad I had this, that I already experienced this at 20,” says Ihattaren. And not at 25. “I’m grateful for everyone who has supported me. It wasn’t just Gerald. My family, my mother, my sister. Everyone around me.”

He is not afraid of another relapse. He knows what he has to do, “for the rest of my career”. Beyond the shame: “I want to keep my last name up forever.”