West Brom manager Tony Mowbray made his first signing of the summer this week as Albion prepare for their return to the Premier League. Holland Under 21 defender Gianni Zuiverloon arrived at The Hawthorns from Herenveen in a £3.2 million deal. But he will miss the start of the new season as he will be playing for his country at the Beijing Olympics and wants to come back with a gold medal around his neck. However, the 21-year-old right back is looking at the bigger picture and turned down the chance to join other Premier League clubs, believing the style of football and a regular first team place at Albion were more important to him. England fans may remember Zuiverloon scoring the 32nd penalty of a marathon shoot-out last year when Holland won through to the final of the European Under 21 Championships. Givemefootball's Ian Clarkson spoke with Zuiverloon after his first few days at Albion.
Q:WELCOME TO WEST BROM, HOW'S IT BEEN SO FAR?
A:I'm very excited to be here and my first impression is that everyone's nice, there are some good players. We have a good training ground and a good manager. But we have been doing a lot of running, more running than I am used to! In Holland you do everything with the ball, not without the ball. I'm sure I'll be getting the ball here eventually though.
Q:HOW EXCITED ARE YOU ABOUT PLAYING IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE?
A:Very! I watch the games on TV every week and I told myself I wanted to be playing in the Premier League. Now I'm here and I'm looking forward to it. I took advice from Ryan Babel who is one of my best friends. I spoke a lot to him and he said West Bromwich Albion would be a good step for me. I heard that there were some other clubs in for me, both in Europe and in the Premier League. But I chose Albion because of the way they play football and the fact that they want to play football. The chances for me to play are much better here than they might have been at other clubs. I want to improve myself and I can only do that by playing.
Q:WERE YOU GIVEN REPORTS ABOUT ALBION'S STYLE OF FOOTBALL?
A:I heard they like to play good football and then I saw that when I watched the DVDs. I saw they had some good players to make that sort of football possible.
Q:HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GOING TO THE OLYMPICS, AS YOU WILL MISS THE START OF THE SEASON WITH ALBION?
A:I think I will miss the first two games perhaps, and the first one is against Arsenal which is one of the greatest games in the competition. So I have mixed feelings but the Olympics will be good and you can only play once there in your life. We hope we can go all the way in China; we are going for a medal as we have a very good team.
Q:COULD IT GO AGAINST YOU IF ALBION PLAY WELL AND YOU CAN'T GET INTO THE SIDE ON YOUR RETURN?
A:Yes, it might. They always say never change a winning team. So if Albion make a good start then the manager doesn’t need to change things. I will just have to work hard and show what I can do, But I suppose if we won the gold medal then it would help me, but even so if the other players are doing well then I won't be able to just come back into the team. It'll be what the manager wants. I am an attacking defender and I want to play football.
Q:THE £3.2 MILLION TAG IS A LOT OF MONEY, DO YOU EXPECT TO BE FIRST CHOICE?
A:I don't know, but I will have to work hard and compete with other players. I have to show myself in training and if I do that then I should be okay. But here I have the chance to play against the best players in the world, compared to Holland, everything goes faster and everyone is stronger. I'm looking forward to playing against Ryan (Babel) when we meet Liverpool too. I usually do okay against him so that will be a good game for me.
