Dutch courage
Football Italia - February 2000
It has never been easy to make Juventus hard man Edgar Davids cry, but now it will be even harder. With his tear ducts dried up the Bianconeri midfielder can't cry even if he wants to. Today the stocky Dutchman has to take special eye drops, a sort of artificial tear, to lubricate his eyes. And although not a physical injury as such, it was serious enough to force Davies to sit out six weeks of the season. And while he was absent Juve
were unbalanced without his forcefulness in midfield. But now the tenacious 26-year-old is back.
He's playing in a different role from last season under Marcello Lippi. Today, the Surinam-born midfielder doesn't play so much down the left flank but in more of a central role. Here he can win balls back and set off counter-attacks while being the fulcrum of the triangular midfield that is the centrepiece of Juve's formation.
Overjoyed to rejoin the race after his eye problems, Davids is also happy that the club and himself have agreed on an extended contract. Tied to the Old Lady's apron strings until the year 2004, he claims it has made up in a small way for his absence. He says it was still very hard for a player like him to accept that he couldn't play while the rest of his body was more than willing. "I found it very difficult to hold myself back when it was not really a physical problem. But I think I am back to what I was and thank heavens it's almost over. Physically I am not quite quick enough, but that will come back soon." So why was an operation needed? "We were going to wait until the eye corrected itself but it didn't seem like it was going to so that's when I decided to have the operation. At the moment Davids uses eye drops and wears goggles, so does this mean he will always have to
wear glasses on the pitch? "They are not indispensable but I feel more secure with them on and the doctor said that it is better to wear them."
The drugs used to help control the eye disorder caused a few problems and because of that the regulation over the use of certain drugs has been changed. "Some of the accusations were ridiculous so I hope that my experience can be useful for other players."
How did he find Juve after being away for almost six weeks? "I think that at times we were lucky and sometimes not. We played very well at Rome, at Bari and against Milan but we played poorly in the second leg UEFA Cup match against Olympiakos. We are not taking all the chances that come our way. But I think that Juve are now more mature and a lot more determined than a month ago."
