Bologna defender Sam Beukema recalled how he turned down Arne Slot’s invitation to join him at Feyenoord as he is set to cross his path again in the Rossoblu’s Champions League fixture against Liverpool at Anfield.
The Dutch centre-back spoke in an interview with the Athletic, revealing that the first meeting between him and the current Liverpool manager took place when he still played for Go Ahead Eagles in his country’s second tier.
Back then, Slot tried to persuade Beukema to sign for Feyenoord, the team he coached at the time – despite recalling his compatriot’s words as an ‘eye-opener’, the player eventually decided to sign for AZ Alkmaar and would go on to join Bologna two seasons later.
In his first season at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, Beukema helped his side clinch Champions League qualification after 60 years, playing alongside Riccardo Calafiori and Joshua Zirkzee, who he defined a ‘complete’ player and ‘one of the best attacking players I’ve played against’ respectively.
Beukema turned down Slot’s offer and urged Calafiori to ‘stay back’
Beukema held transfer talks with Slot before switching Go Ahead Eagles for AZ Alkmaar and was left impressed by how the then-Feyenoord manager knew his game in detail.
“There were a couple of eye-openers where I was like: ‘Woah, I’ve never thought about the game like that before’,” Beukema told The Athletic.
“He said: ‘In the build-up you’re very good but when it’s unpredictable in the midfield and you go to intercept the ball at that age (20) you sometimes lose control’. I was like: ‘You’re right. I’ve never thought about that before’.”
The Dutch defender admitted the project Bologna presented to him did not include playing the ‘Champions League immediately after one year’.
“To be honest, when I joined they told me they had this project to play in Europe in the coming years,” he said.
“Not the Champions League immediately after one year! From the day I arrived it was more like finishing in the top seven, top eight, maybe Conference League.
“Then after a magical year we ended up in fifth position and reached the Champions League.”
Thiago Motta’s side ended up reaching a historic achievement at the end of a season that saw Beukema becoming a regular starter in defence alongside current Arsenal star Riccardo Calafiori, of whom he still reminds his penchant for going forward.
“Sometimes I was like: ‘Cala, stay back! We need you at the back. Don’t go all the way up front’. And he was like: ‘Why? Why can’t I go?’. So that was funny,” Beukema recalled.
“He’s complete. He just scored this amazing goal against Manchester City. It’s crazy.”
Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee was another of Beukema’s teammates, who was “one of the best attacking players I’ve played against,” the defender said.
“Last year it was him and Ademola Lookman, who is also a really good player with Atalanta. It didn’t surprise me when Joshua moved to United. I remember watching him play.
“It feels like the ball is stuck to him and for a defender that’s really tough because if you try to step out in front of him, he uses his body and if you give him space he does something really unpredictable with the ball.”
Bologna will take Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday in their second Champions League match of the season, following their 0-0 draw on their debut match against Shakhtar.