Dani van den Heuvel spent four years at Leeds United before leaving Elland Road as a free agent in 2024.
The goalkeeper joined the Whites from Ajax in 2020. This was at a time when Leeds United had returned to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years.
Ajax were keen on retaining the 22-year-old at that point, but he decided to move to English football. Back in 2020, Van den Heuvel’s agent Daan Kramp suggested the Eredivisie side’s renewal proposal wasn’t convincing.
The stopper left the Premier League side without making a competitive appearance for their senior team. He joined Club Brugge on a free transfer in August 2024 and has been with them since then.
Voetbal International have a detailed piece on the Dutchman.
VI explain Leeds United’s plan convinced him to pick them over signing an extension at Ajax. The Whites wanted the goalkeeper to train with the first team under Marcelo Bielsa, who was then in charge at Elland Road.
On training under Bielsa, he said: “That was quite different from what I was used to. Bielsa did speak English… But actually, not at all.
“The meetings always involved an interpreter. Bielsa would sometimes be furious, and it was great that the interpreter sometimes kept talking so calmly. Or maybe the interpreter was trying to pretend he was furious too. That was absolutely fantastic.”
Leeds United spell remembered fondly
The current Club Brugge player fondly remembers training with Raphinha at Leeds United. The Brazilian forward spent two years with the Whites and left them for Barcelona in 2022.
“I worked with Raphinha a lot during that time. After training, he was always looking for a goalkeeper to practise with,” Van den Heuvel explained.
“[It was] Incredibly cool. Sometimes we’d practice one-on-one, then we’d practice shots from the wings, and other times we’d do free kicks.”