Mitchell Dijks is strikingly candid on ESPN's Transfer Deadline Show. The wing-back admits he put on a significant amount of weight during his spell at Nam Dinh FC in Vietnam.
"I was testing my fitness. But that didn't quite go well. I weighed 104 kilos. When I'm fit, I normally weigh 92 kilos. There were quite a few kilos on me," reveals Dijks, who is currently without a club.
Presenter Milan van Dongen can hardly believe it and thinks Dijks is winding him up. "No, it's serious. I really was quite chubby," says the former left-back of, among others, Ajax, Vitesse and Fortuna Sittard.
Hans Kraay junior is just as surprised and asks what Dijks was actually doing in Vietnam. "The intensity there is all a bit lower. But you just eat good pasta there. And then during matches you only run seven kilometres."
His remarks sparked astonishment on social media. "Hilarious, man, a player throwing away his own career," someone laments on X. De Telegraaf reporter Jeroen Kapteijns also has his reservations. "It's honest and sincere, but whether this is the wisest interview when you're looking for a club now?"
Now 33, Dijks is hoping for a new Asian adventure. The defender does not necessarily have to return to the Netherlands.