FC Twente midfielder Sem Steijn opens up about how the situation surrounding his father, Maurice Steijn affects his game | OneFootball

At 21 years old Sem Steijn is impressing in the Eredivisie with FC Twente. The son of Ajax manager Maurice Steijn has already scored four goals in seven league appearances this season, with Twente sitting in third place. Despite the positive start, Sem Steijn has revealed that he’s been trying to shield himself from the difficult situation surrounding his father at Ajax.

Twente suffered their first defeat of the season less than two weeks ago, losing 1-0 to RKC Waalwijk. Sem Steijn featured for 54 minutes before being substituted, having failed to make an impact. The match took place on the same day that Ajax vs Feyenoord faced each other at the Johan Cruyff Arena. A clash that was abandoned due to fans launching flares onto the field with Ajax 3-0 down. Sem Steijn had heard about the news and the situation his father was in whilst travelling to his match on the Twente team bus.

Speaking to Voetbal International, Steijn said ‘What happens to my father has an impact on me. Ajax is always in the news. I only have to touch my phone, whichever app I click, the messages immediately appear on my screen. It’s always talked about around me. That’s not nice. It really bothered me against RKC. The fuss surrounding my father bothered me, so I wasn’t myself.’

Three days later, ahead of Twente’s clash with Vitesse, Steijn chose to ignore the outcome of the resumed clash between Ajax and Feyenoord. The former ADO Den Haag midfielder avoided TV and social media to focus entirely on his own match. ‘I wanted to avoid getting irritated. It worked’. Sem scored the only goal in Twente’s 1-0 win that evening.

Steijn has a close relationship with his father and doesn’t like seeing Maurice in his current situation at Ajax. The Dutch giants are currently 15th in the Eredivisie after five league games. Maurice Steijn is under mounting pressure. This week, his side face AEK Athens in the Europa League, followed by a huge clash against AZ Alkmaar.

GBeNeFN | Hugo Hargreaves