Willum Willumsson has admitted he was immediately very interested in leaving Birmingham City when NEC Nijmegen approached him in January.
Voetbal International have an interview with the midfielder today. Voetbal Primeur relay his comments.
The 27-year-old returned to the Netherlands on February 1st, bringing an end to an 18 month stay with Birmingham City.
He joined them for €4m in 2024 after previously impressing at Go Ahead Eagles and was a regular as the Blues were promoted to the Championship.
Their big summer spend, and an injury, saw him drop out of favour this season, though. He’d managed just 13 appearances totalling 522 minutes for Birmingham City this season. His last appearance was one minute in a 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
That opened up the door to an exit and NEC were happy to pay to bring him in. They know the midfielder well given 62 appearances for Go Ahead Eagles before his move to Birmingham.
And it seems Willumsson was equally keen on the move. In fact, he insists he was immediately open to the idea.
“Good for me and Birmingham City”
“I was immediately very interested. This is a good solution for me and Birmingham City, and I’m happy to be here,” he said.
“I find NEC’s playing style very interesting. I’ve never played like this before, and I’m looking forward to it. It’s attacking, with a lot of freedom and a lot of forward pressure. It will take some time to get used to it, but I think it will be fun.
“Before I signed, I called the manager and a few other people. Everyone was full of praise for the manager, and I could see from day one that he’s very good.
“He’s clear and has a clear vision of football. That takes some getting used to, with a lot of freedom and running. I think this is really fun as an attacker.”
