Brighton and Hove Albion star Maxim de Cuyper has revealed he nearly gave up on football entirely in the early days of his career.
The Belgian is currently with Belgium for the international break, having earned a call-up from new manager Mark van Bommel.
That call up comes after a strong start to the season in which he has impressed for Fabian Hurzeler’s high-flying Seagulls.
Brighton numbers impress
The 25-year-old is now in his second season on the South Coast.
And he’s starting to show his ability more, with two assists and one goal in five games in the Premier League already.
In fact, he’s on three goals and three assists in eight games in all competitions to date.
In comparison, he had two goals and three assists in 31 games in all competitions for Brighton last season.
Father saved the day
He is now very much living up to the hype that followed him from Belgium. And, in turn, paying back his father for forcing him to stick with football when things got tough early on.
“I took a real beating mentally. I didn’t play a single match during that first six months; I was completely overlooked,” he told HUMO, via Voetbal 24.
The defender considered quitting as a result. However, his father manager to convince him to persevere.
“I didn’t make sacrifices all those years and drive you everywhere just to see you quit now. Hang in there!” he told him.
That eventually paid off as a loan spell at Westerlo helped him to establish himself at Brugge. Then came the move to Brighton, where he’s now a star man and earning rave reviews. But those early years did knock his confidence, to say the least.
“No one was keeping an eye on me. As I got older, I believed less and less in just how good I actually was,” he concluded.
