INTERVIEW: Bournemouth star Justin Kluivert has enjoyed a remarkable 2025 to date but he wants his purple patch to continue as he targets a place in the FA Cup semi-finals with the Cherries
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Justin Kluivert
Justin Kluivert wants to book Bournemouth's place in the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in their history
(Image: AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
Justin Kluivert was always going to have big football boots to fill with a legendary father. But now, buoyed by his red-hot Bournemouth form, the son of Holland great Patrick is forging his own legacy as one of the Premier League's most-fearsome attackers.
The 25-year-old, hailed as the perfect No.10 by Marc Overmars as a kid, has notched up an impressive 13 goals and seven assists in all competitions this season. Ever-improving Kluivert is optimistic all good things come in threes following the birth of his first child and after earning two successive starts for Holland during the international break against Spain, he now wants to fire European-chasing Bournemouth into the FA Cup semi-finals with victory over Manchester City.
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At just 17, the ambitious Cherries hotshot was adamant his pathway to the summit of the game was mapped out ahead of him following his exciting senior breakthrough at Ajax. However, following frustrating spells in Italy, Germany, France and Spain with Roma, RB Leipzig, Nice and Valencia, respectively, the pressure of carrying the prestigious family name no longer weighs heavy for Kluivert at high-flying Bournemouth.
He admits he got ahead of himself, explaining: "I got into the first team of Ajax in 2017 and immediately we got to the final of the Europa League. I thought that was a normal thing, you know, in all the Ajax youth teams we were used to getting to the final of every tournament, wherever we played in Europe.
"So at that time I was also convinced I would achieve my dream of playing for Barcelona and honestly, things went quickly. The next minute I made a big transfer to Roma and I thought, I am almost there but I was naive. I am 25 now and I have learnt that things don’t come easy, I have had to work really hard."
It has been a remarkable year for the Dutchman to date. His show-stopping hat-trick at Newcastle, where his father Patrick used to play, helped earn him the Premier League Player of the Month award in January.
Patrick Kluivert
Patrick Kluivert (left) with Justin's younger brother Shane, who plays for Barcelona
Statisticians were also keen to point out that Kluivert has now managed more top-flight goals at St James' Park than his dad, who spent one season on Tyneside with the Magpies and now manages Indonesia. February then marked the arrival of his precious daughter Giselle and he recently earned back-to-back international starts in the Nations League quarter-finals.
While the thrilling two-legged tie may have ended in penalty heartbreak for Holland, Kluivert intends to finish March on a high - by helping the Cherries reach the last four of the FA Cup for the first time in their 126-year history.
He claims boss Andoni Iraola is at the heart of his stunning campaign, explaining: "Iraola is the first man to give me this special No.10 role and it has done wonders for my career. I want this to continue as long as possible. He really is the first coach to give me a role with so much freedom.
Justin Kluivert
Justin Kluivert has hit two Premier League hat-tricks this season
"The No.10 position suits me perfectly, Iraola’s ideas about the game are exactly mine. The boss always tells me the same thing: ‘Attacking is all about following your instinct’.
"When we have to break open a tight defence, he says there is only one instruction: there is no instruction. We are having a brilliant run with Bournemouth, I am not saying I will never play as a winger anymore but Iraola does know where I am at my best."
Outside of Iraola, only one other footballing figure envisaged Kluivert dazzling in a central role; his father's ex-team-mate Overmars. The forward revealed: "With all my other coaches and clubs I used to be a winger but there is one funny thing. When I was a kid, Marc Overmars, who was sporting director at Ajax at the time, said to me: ‘Justin, one day you will be a number ten in a great team’. That is exactly what has happened."
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