Burheim's big move
2014: View attachment 829043
My first season at Ajax was a huge transition for me. I've always been the best at every level I've played on, usually dominating kids 2-3 years older than me. But now, I felt like the chubby kid that always had to play left back. There were so many good players at the academy, so every practice was a struggle to stand out. On my first day I was introduced to a few other recruits at my own age, and we really hit it off.
There was a Kiwi called Chai Clark. He bombed down the right wing every practice and could pick a cross or curl in a free kick like no kid I've ever seen. He was a bit of a strange one though, since he struggled to leap 1 foot off the ground, and made errors on 50% of his throw-ins, but a great chap that I could actually talk to.
Another was an English striker that introduced himself as Bullardinho. I have to admit, I had a bit of a laugh about it and thought to myself "what a *****, surely his name is Bullard". Even though he insisted we used the whole name, he turned out to be a great guy, and a quality poacher at that.
On my first day I also met up with a swede called Patrick. We hit it off straight away, as we could talk to each other easily. However, Patrick must be one of the unluckiest people I know. 3 years in now, and he's hardly spent a day on the training ground without some sort of injury. Such a shame.
Finally, the one we all ended up depending most on was a dutch guy called Josep Van Branco. He was some sort of youth mentor to us all, despite being the same age. We were always hanging around him, and he taught us all the important phrases in Dutch. I'm still grateful to him to this day for assisting us so much.
The first year passed really quickly in Amsterdam. I got up, went to practice, ate lunch, went to practice again, and so on. I felt that I kept on improving my game, but the competition for places is so hard, I didn't get to play as much as I'd liked.
2015: View attachment 829046
After spending a year at Ajax, I felt like I'd really improved my game. I still struggled to play enough though, as competition was extremely rough, but I did get to play a couple of cup games at the Amsterdam Arena, which was a great experience. The u21-manager of Norway also had recieved word of my development, and brought me in for a training camp. I was really surprised when he called me up for the squad to play European Qualifiers, and to be honest, I was shocked when he put me in the starting 11 alongside Real Madrid's Martin Ødegaard for the first game. Still, I held my own, and got 4 games in total by the end of the season.
2016:View attachment 829047
My second season was really frustrating. I was shipped between the u20's and the u18's, and only played every second game for either side. I got 4 more u21 caps, but in general I felt like my effort in training wasn't paying off. I had to compete with Josep, instead of playing alongside him, and we both suffered, having to play only half our games. I wasn't the only one being frustrated however, as Bullardinho, Chai, Patrick and Josep all shared their frustration. We were starting to realize that the dream of all of us playing together for Ajax, would probably never be reality. We would all have to face that moving to another club might be our only option to get playing time.
2017: View attachment 829048My third season was filled with ups and downs. I got to play a few more games, making 8 u21 games for Norway, and playing more Jupiler League football, but I still struggled to get picked consistently. However, I got to practice a lot with the first team, and got to know a player called Veli Kavlak really well. He kept ending up on my team, and I really admired his energy and his commitment to every single practice drill. He kept on pushing me to not give up even when we were being outplayed, and also kept on yelling at me to shoot whenever I was within 30 metres out. After a while I felt like I had the confidence to take on the shots myself, and scored a couple of screamers. I kept performing well on practices, but still, no chances in the senior squad.
I was starting to doubt if I'd ever get a chance when I got a call to meet at chairman Hans Wijers' office. I'd only ever met him once before, and that was when we got a celebration dinner after winning the u19 league in my first season. When I stepped into his office, it was like I was back in 2014, as a small kid, walking into the office at Kongsvinger. The scene was almost the same. Two people sat at the desk beside the chairman. They introduced themselves as Nicola Amoruso and Vincenzo Iacovello. Nicola greeted me with a big smile. "Hello Are, I will cut straight to the chase, we have watched you for a long time, and would like for you to join us at Lazio. We have had a poor season, finishing 10th. Our central midfield is old and not up to par. We need you to step in straight away and lead us back to the top. We have already agreed terms with Ajax for your transfer, now it's up to you."
I called up my agent and had a long talk with him. His name is Erik Meyer, and he is a sly devil. Turns out he'd manage to find out what the agreed transfer fee was at. I was shocked to hear that it could add up to £10M. £10M, for me?! "We can use this to our advantage" Erik said. A few hours later, after a long meeting between Nicola and Erik, I was phoned up. I could hear the grin on Erik's face in his voice. "Pack your bags son, we're heading to Rome. And by the way, you no longer earn £450 per week, now you earn £15.25K. I'm off to get myself a new suit."
5 days later, my apartment was sold, my bags were packed and I had said my goodbyes to my mates. I promised to send them all fancy clothes from Rome. I touched down at Fiumicino and was met by a limousine and a driver with a fancy hat! After being driven to my new apartment, which Lazio had bought me, I went to check my bank account. 5 minutes later, I was walking down the street with a big smile.... oh well, time to buy a Lamborghini
EDIT: As I walked into the car dealer, I was met by a man dressed as a big Parma ham, he told me I could have a Lamborghini if I could cook a fancy dinner in 12 minutes, where all I had to use was a tin can of spam and some cheez doodles. Then a huge lama walked in and asked me if I knew the way to the drug store? I answered but the lama then spat in my face, I never knew a lama had that much saliva, because the next moment I was drowning, choking, barely able to breathe... all i could hear was... laughter??? I opened my eyes and stared right into the face of Chai, Bullardinho, Patrick and Josep. Patrick was holding an empty bucket and my bed was drenched. "So, how was the party last night?" Bullardinho asked. "Well nevermind, you got 5 minutes before we head to morning practice, time to get up". I looked around... same boring apartment... same cloudy weather.... turns out it was all a dream. I should have known that noone would pay £10M for someone not playing senior football. Oh well, back to the training ground!
Summer 2017
It's been 3 years. 3 long years of hard work, but finally I feel like I'm on my way to making it big.
2014: View attachment 829043
My first season at Ajax was a huge transition for me. I've always been the best at every level I've played on, usually dominating kids 2-3 years older than me. But now, I felt like the chubby kid that always had to play left back. There were so many good players at the academy, so every practice was a struggle to stand out. On my first day I was introduced to a few other recruits at my own age, and we really hit it off.
There was a Kiwi called Chai Clark. He bombed down the right wing every practice and could pick a cross or curl in a free kick like no kid I've ever seen. He was a bit of a strange one though, since he struggled to leap 1 foot off the ground, and made errors on 50% of his throw-ins, but a great chap that I could actually talk to.
Another was an English striker that introduced himself as Bullardinho. I have to admit, I had a bit of a laugh about it and thought to myself "what a *****, surely his name is Bullard". Even though he insisted we used the whole name, he turned out to be a great guy, and a quality poacher at that.
On my first day I also met up with a swede called Patrick. We hit it off straight away, as we could talk to each other easily. However, Patrick must be one of the unluckiest people I know. 3 years in now, and he's hardly spent a day on the training ground without some sort of injury. Such a shame.
Finally, the one we all ended up depending most on was a dutch guy called Josep Van Branco. He was some sort of youth mentor to us all, despite being the same age. We were always hanging around him, and he taught us all the important phrases in Dutch. I'm still grateful to him to this day for assisting us so much.
The first year passed really quickly in Amsterdam. I got up, went to practice, ate lunch, went to practice again, and so on. I felt that I kept on improving my game, but the competition for places is so hard, I didn't get to play as much as I'd liked.
2015: View attachment 829046
After spending a year at Ajax, I felt like I'd really improved my game. I still struggled to play enough though, as competition was extremely rough, but I did get to play a couple of cup games at the Amsterdam Arena, which was a great experience. The u21-manager of Norway also had recieved word of my development, and brought me in for a training camp. I was really surprised when he called me up for the squad to play European Qualifiers, and to be honest, I was shocked when he put me in the starting 11 alongside Real Madrid's Martin Ødegaard for the first game. Still, I held my own, and got 4 games in total by the end of the season.
2016:View attachment 829047
My second season was really frustrating. I was shipped between the u20's and the u18's, and only played every second game for either side. I got 4 more u21 caps, but in general I felt like my effort in training wasn't paying off. I had to compete with Josep, instead of playing alongside him, and we both suffered, having to play only half our games. I wasn't the only one being frustrated however, as Bullardinho, Chai, Patrick and Josep all shared their frustration. We were starting to realize that the dream of all of us playing together for Ajax, would probably never be reality. We would all have to face that moving to another club might be our only option to get playing time.
2017: View attachment 829048My third season was filled with ups and downs. I got to play a few more games, making 8 u21 games for Norway, and playing more Jupiler League football, but I still struggled to get picked consistently. However, I got to practice a lot with the first team, and got to know a player called Veli Kavlak really well. He kept ending up on my team, and I really admired his energy and his commitment to every single practice drill. He kept on pushing me to not give up even when we were being outplayed, and also kept on yelling at me to shoot whenever I was within 30 metres out. After a while I felt like I had the confidence to take on the shots myself, and scored a couple of screamers. I kept performing well on practices, but still, no chances in the senior squad.
I was starting to doubt if I'd ever get a chance when I got a call to meet at chairman Hans Wijers' office. I'd only ever met him once before, and that was when we got a celebration dinner after winning the u19 league in my first season. When I stepped into his office, it was like I was back in 2014, as a small kid, walking into the office at Kongsvinger. The scene was almost the same. Two people sat at the desk beside the chairman. They introduced themselves as Nicola Amoruso and Vincenzo Iacovello. Nicola greeted me with a big smile. "Hello Are, I will cut straight to the chase, we have watched you for a long time, and would like for you to join us at Lazio. We have had a poor season, finishing 10th. Our central midfield is old and not up to par. We need you to step in straight away and lead us back to the top. We have already agreed terms with Ajax for your transfer, now it's up to you."
I called up my agent and had a long talk with him. His name is Erik Meyer, and he is a sly devil. Turns out he'd manage to find out what the agreed transfer fee was at. I was shocked to hear that it could add up to £10M. £10M, for me?! "We can use this to our advantage" Erik said. A few hours later, after a long meeting between Nicola and Erik, I was phoned up. I could hear the grin on Erik's face in his voice. "Pack your bags son, we're heading to Rome. And by the way, you no longer earn £450 per week, now you earn £15.25K. I'm off to get myself a new suit."
5 days later, my apartment was sold, my bags were packed and I had said my goodbyes to my mates. I promised to send them all fancy clothes from Rome. I touched down at Fiumicino and was met by a limousine and a driver with a fancy hat! After being driven to my new apartment, which Lazio had bought me, I went to check my bank account. 5 minutes later, I was walking down the street with a big smile.... oh well, time to buy a Lamborghini
EDIT: As I walked into the car dealer, I was met by a man dressed as a big Parma ham, he told me I could have a Lamborghini if I could cook a fancy dinner in 12 minutes, where all I had to use was a tin can of spam and some cheez doodles. Then a huge lama walked in and asked me if I knew the way to the drug store? I answered but the lama then spat in my face, I never knew a lama had that much saliva, because the next moment I was drowning, choking, barely able to breathe... all i could hear was... laughter??? I opened my eyes and stared right into the face of Chai, Bullardinho, Patrick and Josep. Patrick was holding an empty bucket and my bed was drenched. "So, how was the party last night?" Bullardinho asked. "Well nevermind, you got 5 minutes before we head to morning practice, time to get up". I looked around... same boring apartment... same cloudy weather.... turns out it was all a dream. I should have known that noone would pay £10M for someone not playing senior football. Oh well, back to the training ground!
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