George Johnston exclusive: U23s were too easy – Feyenoord was a no brainer

Former Liverpool starlet George Johnston moved to Feyenoord last season.

The Manchester-born, Scotland U21 international played 36 Premier League 2 games, skippered the side and featured in some preseason friendlies.

Unlike some Academy products, George Johnson had a keen sense of when it was time to leave Merseyside and a £500,000 move to Eredivisie giants Feyenoord was completed in August 2019.

He’s contracted until 2021, with the option of a further year, and is looking to make his first team debut during this season.

Feyenoord gave Rush The Kop some time with their young defender, and we asked him about that move, playing for Liverpool, training under Jurgen Klopp and the weird noises Dutch people make.

Moving to the Netherlands isn’t a move you see young, British players take very often. What convinced you and how did it come about?

It was just really a quick phone call and then within 48 hours the deal was done. It was just too big to turn down the opportunity.

I saw one report of your move that called it ‘bold’. Do you share that assessment?

I’m pretty confident about it, I saw it as the next step in my career. I was 20 at the time, I wanted to play first team football and at that moment I was with the reserves at Liverpool and I just saw it as the next step up.

You never went on loan while at Liverpool, was that a conscious choice by you and the Academy staff there?

It was always a strong possibility during that transfer window, but obviously this came up. But I was definitely looking to play first team football that summer, whether it was moving abroad or staying in England.

After doing well and making a few friendly squads, you must have had hope that you could be a more regular face around the first team squad? 

I mean it was like the toughest squad in Europe to try and break into, if not the world, so it’s difficult for any young player. I think it would take a lot of time for any young player (to make the squad). You don’t really see many players (make it). Liverpool buy players and they go straight into the first team, it’s a very tough squad to get into. When other opportunities came up you seriously consider them.

You’d featured regularly at that level and you’d been U23 skipper, how do you know that was time to move away from this club that you’ve been up for so long?

Well, I was always looking to move on to a first team, whether it was to go out on loan from Liverpool to a club in a lower division. I felt that U23 team football was getting too easy for me and I was getting ready for the next challenge. When an opportunity like this came up it was just a no-brainer really.

Are there any lessons that you can take from, and from being exposed to Jurgen Klopp, that’ll serve you well throughout your career?

The intensity was something I’ve never experienced before. We were winning the Champions League and getting to all sorts of finals so the intensity in everything they did, whether it was a simple passing exercise, the intensity was always 110% and that’s something I could take into whatever I did next.

You’ve now had a taste of Feyenoord U21s and Liverpool U23s, what can you tell us about the difference between both sides?

Liverpool was kind of more structured. You had a definite 23s squad, the reserves here aren’t as structured and you don’t know who’s playing every week. You don’t really have a reserves training group, like we did at Liverpool.

The most important thing is to focus on myself, and get out of those games what I think I need, whether that’s fitness or preparing for international matches. It’s an opportunity to help myself out as much as possible.

Making the bench for 13 league games in a row without coming on must be incredibly frustrating but also hugely encouraging. Is that the case?

Obviously you want to get on, but being in and around the first team environment all the time is different to what I was used to in the previous year. It’s a natural progression for me, it was a step up last season so hopefully I can push on more this season.

Do you feel more ready?

Yeah definitely, I definitely feel fully adapted now. I’ve had a year to learn, I’m learning all the time and I definitely feel more prepared now.

How’s the Dutch coming?

It is quite a difficult language, they have a lot of sounds that are different to English so it is quite difficult. I’ve picked up a lot of words that they use playing football and I can understand on the pitch, quite a lot of the words now, but the lads are good and everyone speaks very good English.

Anfield is a fortress but De Kuip must be a pretty intimidating place for the opposition to come. What are your experiences of the stadium?

It’s really intense, it’s quite different from the atmosphere, to England, especially the European nights. It’s probably similar to Anfield really, but it’s really intense and quite hostile to the away teams.