Why Nigel De Jong Is the Heart and Lungs of AC Milan

He has tattoos all over his chest, and when he plays you can see the tribal art on his neck. Nigel de Jong looks menacing on the field for AC Milan, with a short goatee and a shaved head. Sometimes he can fly into tackles—and good luck to anyone in his way. 

Of course there was the famous kung-fu kick on Xabi Alonso in the 2010 World Cup final. There was the time in October 2010 when he broke Hatem Ben Arfa’s leg. Seven months earlier he hurled himself into Stuart Holden during a friendly against the United States and broke his leg too.

A Dutch TV commentator at the time called De Jong an “animal,” according to The Times. David Winner, author of the book Brilliant Orange, wrote in The Telegraph years ago that the Dutch, “thanks to sheer novelty value, have taken street fighters Nigel de Jong and [Mark] Van Bommel to their hearts.”

But De Jong is a lot more than streetwise. He is a leader on the pitch who gives everything. His reputation precedes him, but De Jong is not a destroyer who hunts down players and aims to maim. There is a deliberate job he is doing in midfield for AC Milan and for the Netherlands, and without his contributions both teams would struggle even more.

His passing percentage is always well into the 90s. He can average around 70 to 80 passes per game. He can make little short passes and play with a kind of staccato rhythm. He never looks hassled.

De Jong can also hurl a long ball and set up a great assist. Lo and behold, he can be a playmaker and a sort of stopper who plugs the gaps in midfield and helps out the defence, protecting his back four. He could play centre-back if he wanted to.

On Sunday, he sprinted up half the field without any problem and deposited the ball into the net for one of Milan's five goals against Parma. He gave a salute to the fans right behind the net.

It was a reminder of what he could have been. De Jong actually grew up playing as a forward in the Ajax academy on the right side of the attack. 

Daniel Taylor of The Guardian did a revealing interview with De Jong in 2009. In it, De Jong admits that back when he was younger, he scored flashy goals and had ambitions to be the next Dennis Bergkamp. He would try to nutmeg his teammates in training and would shoot from dozens of yards away.

Once he moved to Germany to play for Hamburg, the coach there turned him into the defensive midfielder he is now. It was a shock at first, but De Jong always appreciated the kind of player who would get stuck in and boss the most important part of the field.

“I looked at it like this,” De Jong told Taylor. “Zinedine Zidane couldn't have done his job without Claude Makelele. Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke couldn't have scored those goals without Roy Keane. Fernando Redondo, Patrick Vieira, Fernando Hierro; a team cannot operate without these players.”

So De Jong dedicated himself to this new position and executed without remorse. 

But he is not a villain. He is a leader, and teammates have said that he is a “gentle soul,” according to The Times (subscription required). He has a family now, a wife and kids, and he likes his private life on Lake Como. He is a pretty quiet person off the pitch.

He spent his childhood caring for his mother, who was in and out of the hospital with kidney problems. His father Jerry was footballer, a fullback for PSV Eindhoven, but he wasn’t around so much. Nigel, being the eldest of five siblings, took care of them too.

“The real people who know football, they see I give 100 percent on the pitch,” De Jong told Alam Khan Sport360 in May. “I’m not a dirty player, I just try to give it my all. ... I’m not an easy opponent for other teams, I’m a fierce competitor, and always try to win.”

De Jong also has a degree in economics and owns a car dealership in Hamburg. He did not want to take a chance on football; he wanted a safety net. 

This is a smart man who prepares for his future. De Jong turns 30 in November, and Italian media reported last week that he is set for a contract extension with Milan,according to Football Italia. That is huge news. In June, after Milan finished a lowly eighth place in Serie A, De Jong was not so sure. “I will have to choose whether to stay here or go somewhere else,” he told ANP (h/t Football Italia).

He is AC Milan’s most important player, and if he stays he will continue to show why.