Leroy Fer

Leroy Fer

Fer training with Feyenoord in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Leroy Fer[1]
Date of birth	(1990-01-05) 5 January 1990
Place of birth	Zoetermeer, Netherlands
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[2]
Playing position	Central Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Norwich City
Number	10
Youth career
0000–1999	DWO
1999–2007	Feyenoord
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2007–2011	Feyenoord	103	(14)
2011–2013	FC Twente	47	(12)
2013–	Norwich City	17	(3)
National team‡
2005–2006	Netherlands U16	7	(1)
2006–2007	Netherlands U17[3]	17	(4)
2007–2009	Netherlands U19[4]	15	(2)
2009–2013	Netherlands U21	31	(6)
2010–	Netherlands	5	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:45, 27 December 2013 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:42, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Leroy Fer (born 5 January 1990) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Premier League side Norwich City and the Netherlands national football team.

Fer has various nicknames. In his youth he got nicknamed De Uitsmijter (The Bouncer) by Feyenoord youth coach Jean-Paul van Gastel for his strong physical appearance. Other nicknames are Lerra^[5] and Ferovic.^[6] Cor Pot, coach of the Netherlands U21, compared Fer with Patrick Vieira. According to Pot both players show many similarities, on and off the field.^[7]

Early life

Fer was born and raised in Zoetermeer, South Holland, the Netherlands. He is the first child of parents of Dutch Antillean descent. Fer's grandfather was a football player on Curaçao, while his father, Lesley Fer, was a baseball player.^[8] Fer has one younger brother named Leegreg. who played for the Feyenoord-U17 team.^[9]

Fer was raised Catholic: "In Zoetermeer we went to church every day. God gave me my football talent. I thank him for that every day." On his right lower arm he has a tattoo of the Christian cross with the text "In God I trust".^[10]

Club career

Youth career

Fer started his youth career at the local Zoetermeer club DWO. In his first full season, Fer's team won friendly matches against youth teams from professional sides, like Sparta Rotterdam and Feyenoord. However, Fer stayed at DWO until the age of nine. Together with youth friend Kaj Ramsteijn, Fer accepted the invitation to join the Feyenoord youth academy.^[9]

Feyenoord

Breakthrough (2007–2009)

Fer had his breakthrough in Feyenoord's first team in the season 2007–08. On 2 December 2007, Fer made his official debut for Feyenoord under the management of Bert van Marwijk. At the age of 17, Fer replaced Nuri Şahin in the 84th minute in the Eredivisie home match against Heracles Almelo (6–0).^[11] Four days later, on 6 December 2007, Fer signed his first professional contract with Feyenoord, keeping him in De Kuip until summer 2012.^[12] Fer was active in 13 Eredivsie matches in his first season, mainly coming in as a substitute. Due to injuries in Feyenoord's first team squad, Fer made his first appearance in the starting line-up in the Eredivisie away match against Ajax (3–0) on 3 February 2008. Fer started on the right back position, which he continued to do so for four matches in a row.^[13] On 30 March 2008, Fer scored his first Eredivisie goal in the away match against NAC Breda (3–1).^[14]

In the season 2008–09, Fer slowly became a first team regular. New Feyenoord coach Gertjan Verbeek often positioned Fer on the central attacking midfielder position behind striker Roy Makaay. On 18 September 2008, Fer made his official European debut, as he was named in the starting line-up in the UEFA Cup home match against Kalmar FF.^[15] Feyenoord lost the match 0–1, but in the return match in Sweden Fer scored the winning goal in the 1–2 victory over Kalmar FF, securing a place in the group stage. During the season, various European top clubs showed interest in the Feyenoord talent, one of them being Italian side Juventus, but Feyenoord refused any cooperation.^[16]

Recognition (2009–2011)

For the season 2009–10, Fer lost his status as talent and grew out to be an important player. While Fer wandered through various playing positions in the previous seasons, from right back to striker, Fer was now constantly placed on the defensive midfielder position by new Feyenoord coach Mario Been. On 20 October 2009, Feyenoord's new technical director, Leo Beenhakker, criticized Feyenoord's first team squad, but at the same time praised Fer for his importance within the team.^[17] Three days later, Feyenoord captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst even claimed Fer to be "unmissable" for the squad in Feyenoord TV,^[18] while the Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk admitted he was following Fer's development closely and was getting very optimistic about him for a possible call-up.^[19]

For the 2010–11 season, Fer's importance for Feyenoord was illustrated after being named the vice-captain of the squad.^[20]

FC Twente

Fer joined fellow Eredivisie club FC Twente at the end of August 2011 in a deal reported to be worth €5 million.^[21] Fer played 71 times for the club, scoring 21 goals over the next two seasons.^[22]

On 28 January 2013 it was announced that English side Everton of the Premier League had agreed a deal, reportedly worth £8.6 million, to sign Fer.^[23] The deal fell through when a medical revealed the player had a long term knee injury and Everton wanted to negotiate a payment by appearances fee.^[23][24][25]

Norwich City

On 13 July 2013, Norwich City confirmed the signing of Fer on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.^[26] He made his début for Norwich against Hull City. He scored his first goal for the club against Bury in the League Cup on 27 August 2013.^[27] He was awarded Man of the Match for an exceptional performance in a 1–0 victory over Southampton. Fer continued his fine early form, and was awarded Norwich's Player of the Month award and his fourth consecutive Man of the Match award after a 3–1 home defeat to Chelsea on 6 October.

Fer was involved in controversy in a 0–0 draw against Cardiff City on 26 October 2013. Team-mate Alexander Tettey went down injured late in the match and Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall sportingly put the ball out of play so Tettey could get treatment. However, during the distraction, Ricky van Wolfswinkel took a quick throw-in to Fer, who rolled the ball into the net. Despite the goal not technically being in violation of any rules, the referee disallowed the goal as he "had not blown his whistle"; players technically do not have to wait for the whistle to be blown to take a throw-in. Cardiff manager Malky Mackay criticised Fer's lack of sportsmanship. Fer confirmed on Match of the Day that the shot was completely intentional and had not expected such a reaction from the Cardiff players, who surrounded him and started shoving him around. David Marshall also started to threaten Ricky van Wolfswinkel.

Leroy Fer scored the third goal in Norwich's 3–1 home win over West Ham United on 9 November 2013, and drew plaudits from the likes of Jamie Redknapp for his performance. Redknapp also stated his belief that Fer could become one of the stars of the league if he consistently plays as he did.^[28]

Fer scored again in a 2–1 defeat against Newcastle United on 23 November, a late header that only proved to be a consolation for the Canaries. He scored his third league goal for the club against West Brom in a 2–0 victory on 7 December, and celebrated by imitating a flying canary. He also assisted Gary Hooper with a through ball that cut straight through the West Brom defence. He was given Man of the Match by Sky Sports for his performance.^[29] He was voted Norwich's player of the month for November via the club's official Facebook and Twitter pages. Leroy Fer was sent off against Crystal Palace on 1 January in the 82nd minute.

International career

Despite playing for the Netherlands on various youth levels, Fer was in doubt which country to represent, as he was eligible to play for both the Netherlands and Netherlands Antilles. In October 2008, Fer claimed he hadn't made a decision yet: "Personally I want to mean something for my island. That's why I'm still in doubt. My brain says it's better to choose for the Netherlands. Then you're assured of a big tournament every two years. But my heart is thinking of Curaçao. It would be fantastic to play a World Cup with Netherlands Antilles, it would give the islands an enormous boost. My roots are stronger than my urge to a career, I'm striving for a higher cause. I don't know yet, but my feelings to play for Netherlands Antilles are very strong."^[30] However, on 26 August 2009, Fer announced he made the final decision and chose to represent the Netherlands on international level.^[31]

Youth teams

Fer went through all the Netherlands youth teams, but had most success with the Netherlands U17, when the team qualified for the UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship.

Netherlands U17 (2006–2007)

Fer was the captain of the Netherlands U17 on the 2007 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship in Belgium.^[8] After a solid run through the qualifying rounds, without losing a single match, the team ended up in the group stage with host Belgium U17, Iceland U17 and England U17. After a disappointing draw against Belgium U17 (2–2), the team came out victorious in the match against Iceland U17 (3–0), but finished on a third place in the group after losing the final match against England U17 (2–4). The Netherlands U17 failed to qualify for the knock-out stage and missed out on a ticket for the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup.^[3]

Netherlands U19 (2007–2009)

Quickly after the 2007 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship, Fer got selected for the Netherlands U19. The team underachieved and failed to qualify for the 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship in Czech Republic and 2009 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship in Ukraine.^[4]

Netherlands U21 (2009–)

Fer made his unofficial debut for the Netherlands U21 on 31 March 2009. A temporary replacement team for the Netherlands U21, called the Netherlands B, played a friendly match against Italy U21, which ended in a 1–1 draw. On 11 August 2009, the Netherlands U21 started their 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualifying campaign with a friendly match against England U21. Fer was part of the starting line-up in a match which ended in a goalless draw.

Career statistics

As of 26 December 2013.

Honours

Club

• KNVB Cup: 2007–08

Individual

• Rotterdam Talent of the Year: 2008^[32]

References

External links

• Leroy Fer career stats at Soccerbase
• Official Leroy Fer profile on Feyenoord.nl (Dutch)
• Kameraadjes Club: Leroy Fer (Dutch)
• Voetbal International: Leroy Fer (Dutch)
• Holland stats at OnsOranje