At seven, I played centre-back. When you're so young, though, it's more to enjoy the training and to get a feel for the game. It's not heavy on tactics of a position. We were playing on a half pitch, seven against seven or eight against eight, so they say you're a centre-back, but it's not like the real definition.
At Under-11/12, I was playing as a right-back. The manager then was Cyril Helstone, and he said to me, 'No, you're not a defender. You should be in midfield.' That was the big change in my career because from that moment until I made my debut in the first-team at Feyenoord, that was the position I played.
He gave me a lot of confidence because he said he liked my way of playing football. He said I was a person he really wanted to have in his squad. Something like that is always good to hear. It made me happy, especially as it came from such a great trainer like Jurgen Klopp. He showed how good he is at Dortmund with all the success he had.