Sergio de Windt came to Juventus Turin at a young age, but never made it through – and was soon working in a call center.
It was always a thing with the Dutch at Juventus. Yes, there was Edgar Davids, who secured his place in Bianconeri history and was instrumental in the successes of the late 1990s and early 2000s. But there were also various flops. Eljero Elijah for example. Or Edwin van der Sar, who between his time at Ajax and that in the Premier League spent two rather mixed and, above all, untitled years in Turin. Not a flop, but not the hoped-for savior either, was recently Matthijs de Ligt.
The story of Sergio de Windt, however, is a very unique one. Never heard the name? That’s no shame. In the summer of 2000, the then 17-year-old came to Turin on the personal recommendation of Davids from the Ajax youth academy, after van der Sar had taken the same step a year earlier – albeit much older.
At Ajax, they thought highly of de Windt and predicted a great future for him at their own club, but the full-back, who was still unused for the Ajax squad at the time, decided to move south.
The start in the Juve jersey went quite well, considering the circumstances. Unable to come with his family, Advocate Davids had problems of his own, and the teenager had to fend for himself as much as possible. In the training camp, the coach at the time, Carlo Ancelotti, praised de Windt, and on August 3 he finally played in a friendly – it was to be his only game ever for the pros.
Sergio de Windt: Call center agent after retirement
Now it would certainly not be tragic for an 18-year-old if he was not yet a permanent member of a club as big as Juventus. However, fate was not kind to him. Suffering a serious knee injury and a long absence during his debut season, Ancelotti was dismissed from the first team after a second year without a league title. Marcello Lippi took over.
Of course, de Windt hadn’t had any contact with Lippi when he returned from his injury. And the star coach didn’t even have the time to look at every single young player, because after two difficult years with Ancelotti, the mission was clear: win titles. There was no room for a player like de Windt, who had just come back from a serious injury. In addition, off the field with a rather excessive lifestyle, he caused annoyance among those responsible for the club.
Halfway through his second season, the Juventus chapter ended for de Windt. He returned to his native Netherlands but never got anywhere. After all, he already drew a line under his professional ambitions in his early 20s and went on to work in a call center. He remained true to football as a hobby player in the amateur field. Hardly anyone knows exactly what his life looks like today.