Despite the lure of the biggest clubs in the world, Smit originally thought he would take a more traditional route through the Dutch top flight. Many AZ graduates often spend time with the Eredivisie's traditional big three before heading abroad, but the midfielder believes his rapid rise has closed that door.
"The ideal would be a stopover at another team in Netherlands, but I don't think that's going to happen," he explained. "I had offers, but I considered that the best thing was to continue growing here. To be honest, I never saw the figures they offered me. And luckily. Otherwise, I would have started to doubt. In the end, I'm happy with my decision. Last year, especially, it cost me physically. I felt I had to improve a lot, that's why it was best to keep growing here [at AZ]."