Valentijn Driessen isn't buying Tolu Arokodare's praise for rival Marcos Leonardo after Ajax's 1-6 win over FC Midtjylland on Thursday evening.
With two goals and an assist, Tolu played a key role in the win. The 25-year-old Nigerian now has twelve goals and four assists in sixteen matches, but afterwards he was particularly pleased with Marcos Leonardo's goal. The Brazilian came on for Tolu in the 70th minute and completed the scoring at 1-6.
Tolu told Ziggo Sport that he wholeheartedly wished his rival success. "I'm happy for him and hopefully this gives him more confidence," said the striker. "This is a team sport. If I don't score, hopefully Leo will."
Impressed by Tolu's words, Mike Verweij thinks the striker is sincere. "He does seem to mean it," the Ajax reporter says on De Telegraaf's Kick-off podcast. Driessen disagrees: "Stop being so naïve. He doesn't mean it at all," the journalist responds sharply.
Verweij stands his ground and asks Driessen how often he has actually spoken to Tolu in person. "That doesn't matter to me at all," Driessen replies. "I know professional football very well and I know what people are like."
For Driessen, every professional footballer ultimately puts their own career first. "At the end of the day, once they've retired, they'll all say it's eleven separate limited companies," he says. "If you don't get to play, you can't further your career and you earn much less money. That applies to Tolu too."
Verweij maintains that Tolu seems different from many other footballers, but Driessen remains unconvinced. "He can say this now because he isn't being pushed into the background," the journalist stresses. Verweij suggests Tolu probably does wish Marcos Leonardo well, but not at the expense of his own position. Driessen replies: "That's what I'm saying. Never at his own expense."
To make his point, Driessen cites Pierre van Hooijdonk, who generally behaved professionally as a substitute even though he too sat on the bench seething. "He didn't mutiny, so to speak," Driessen recalls. "I'm not saying Tolu will mutiny, but otherwise you wouldn't become a professional footballer."