For a player who prides himself on attention to detail, the question of which opponent did he face a year to the day prior to our Zoom conversation stumped Arnaut Danjuma.
“Was it Millwall away?” he eventually replied with a beaming smile, thinking he had remembered.
We were actually talking a year on from Bournemouth’s 1-0 defeat to Brentford in the Championship, the Cherries’ had beaten Millwall 4-1 away from home three days earlier, a game in which their flying Dutchman on the left wing had scored again.
Danjuma could be forgiven for the oversight, however, as he was getting ready to fly to England to spearhead Villarreal’s attack in the Champions League semi-finals against Liverpool.
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“It taught me a lot and sharpened everything I needed. It made me mature quickly. I was very privileged to play for Bournemouth where I had a very good season, and that prepared me for where I am today. I am doing the exact same thing as I was in the Championship last season, just on a higher platform.”
Danjuma signed for Bournemouth in 2019 while they were still a Premier League club, but injuries restricted the Dutch international to just six league starts as Eddie Howe’s side were relegated.
Undeterred, Danjuma stayed put and honed his craft on the south coast, scoring 17 goals from left wing in 2020-21, winning the club’s Player of the Year award by unanimous decision. That persuaded Unai Emery that he would be the latest former Premier League star to become part of his revolution in Castellon.
Danjuma’s rise from Championship winger to Villarreal’s all-time top goalscorer in the Champions League with six goals in less than a year is stuff of fairy tales. But it is no fluke.
“The Premier League was a frustrating time with injuries, but it taught me so much about what the top players need to do on and off the pitch,” he continues. “I watch a lot of clips. I speak a lot with the manager, I’ve got my own personal trainer, my own personal nutritionist, my own individual striker coach, who I work with on a daily basis after training, watching hours of clips. I stay after training with the [Villarreal] striker coach Antonio Rodriguez. All in my own time.
“There are lots of quality players who have never succeeded in their career. And on the contrary, there are a lot of players who have no quality at all, but play week in, week out at the highest level and have lifted a Champions League or World Cup. You have to have it all.
“I know I’ve got the quality and I’ve got the capability to be the very best, but it doesn’t mean I am or will be the best automatically, so I work hard off the pitch too.
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It has helped Danjuma to work with such an innovative coach in Emery, one unfairly derided on these shores, and Liverpool must be wary of a manager who revels in knockout football having won eight cups in his glittering career.
“You can’t really put into words what Unai means for the club and to me personally,” Danjuma says. “He’s the reason I joined Villarreal.
“He is one of the reasons why I’ve improved my football intelligence to perform in multiple positions. And not only me, if you look at what he’s achieved in his career, he must be respected, he is a mastermind on the pitch.
“Knockout football is Unai’s thing. He is so good at analysing an opponent. And he’s tactically the best manager I’ve come across. The Champions League knockout rounds give him a chance to be able to do what he is good at over the course of two games. We believe we can win the competition with him.”
Firstly, Villarreal must dispose of the third most successful side in the competition, starting an Anfield on Wednesday.
The club from a town with a population a fifth that of the City of Westminster’s have been underestimated before, however. Just ask Juventus and Bayern Munich.
It would be an almighty shock if Danjuma can continue his European goalscoring adventure and fire Villarreal to a first-ever European Cup final, a year on from the disappointment of missing out on promotion with Bournemouth.
But this ambitious, versatile forward, who openly admits he has “unfinished business” in the Premier League, will be as prepared as anyone should the opportunity arise.
“You don’t need to be tactically good to know Liverpool are an amazing side,” Danjuma adds.
“They have a very good front three and play defensively really high.
“I don’t want to give anything else that I know away.
“They will do their homework. They won’t underestimate us. And so they shouldn’t.”
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