Veltman (33) has been happily settled in England for years now. Life across the North Sea suits him well. In 2020, the defender signed with Brighton & Hove Albion, and more than five years later, he still proudly wears their colours. Recently, he and his teammates even walked off as winners at Stamford Bridge, securing a 1–3 victory over Chelsea in late September.
"Winning at Stamford Bridge doesn’t happen to us often. It definitely feels special. The intensity of English football is fantastic too. Every single week, you have to perform. Every kid who dreams of being a professional footballer dreams of this."
Impressive list of coaches
How long he'll continue in the Premier League remains uncertain for the defender who made 246 appearances for Ajax. "I still feel good here, but my contract runs out next summer. I want to finish it properly. After that? It depends. What does Brighton want, and what do I want? For now, I can't complain about my minutes under our manager Fabian Hürzeler, and I couldn’t under Graham Potter or Roberto De Zerbi either."
Casually, Veltman drops an impressive list of coaches he’s worked under. That list began at Ajax, with names like Frank de Boer, Peter Bosz, Marcel Keizer, and Erik ten Hag. "You learn something from every coach," he says. "That experience helps me as a player. I’ve started paying closer attention to the tactical side of the game. That really interests me."
The defender from IJmuiden sees his future remaining in football, most likely on the pitch. "At my age, it's healthy to think about life after playing. I'm not saying I necessarily want to be a head coach. But when I was at Ajax, I had specialised training sessions from Jaap Stam, and I learned so much from him as a defender. Dennis Bergkamp did the same for the attackers. A specialist coaching role like that would definitely appeal to me."
Before that time comes, Veltman is still enjoying his playing career to the fullest — and he looks back on his Ajax years with fondness. One of his most memorable matches came away at Chelsea in 2019, a bizarre contest in which Ajax stormed to a 1–4 lead, had two players sent off in a single counterattack, and somehow still managed to hold on for a 4–4 draw, soaked in sweat and adrenaline.
Ajax captured hearts
That game came during a spell when Ajax was thrilling football fans across Europe, a team that evoked memories of the club’s golden eras in the 1970s and 1990s. Even that night at Stamford Bridge, Ajax captured hearts.
"We knew beforehand that we could get a result," Veltman recalls. "We were a really cohesive team. When Hakim Ziyech got the ball, Quincy Promes would immediately make a run to the far post; that’s how the 1–2 happened. We always played to our strengths and stayed true to our style. As defenders, we knew the guys up front could make the difference."
That was evident during Ajax’s fourth goal, which began with an interception from Veltman himself. After winning the ball, he passed to Noussair Mazraoui, and what followed was a textbook Ajax attack.
"When Hakim had the ball and wasn’t under pressure, everyone knew exactly what to do. We didn’t even have to train that over and over. We just knew what he was capable of. That 1-4 didn’t come out of nowhere."
Unfortunately, things unraveled after that goal. César Azpilicueta pulled one back for 2-4, and then came the evening’s most infamous moment — a single Chelsea attack that saw both Daley Blind and Veltman sent off. Blind for a foul, Veltman for handball inside the box.
"Without those red cards, we would’ve won," Veltman says. "That it still ended 4-4 said a lot about our team spirit. But afterwards, all anyone talked about was that one attack where we both got sent off."
People kept debating
Veltman didn’t dwell on it for long. He had his arms down by his sides when the ball struck him and felt he couldn’t have done anything differently.
"Even 99 percent of the pundits said the same. And people kept debating for days whether it was even allowed to give two reds in the same phase of play. You read about it everywhere, maybe even to this day. But you know why I got over it quickly? Because I genuinely couldn’t have done anything else. If there had been even one percent of something I could’ve done differently, I would have."
What Veltman remembers most fondly is that Ajax team, its quality, its chemistry, its confidence. The season before that Chelsea match, Ajax had reached the Champions League semi-finals under Ten Hag, earning respect all across Europe.
"For us, it really felt like the Ajax of the nineties again," he says. "The legends from that era said the same. And we could sense it from our opponents too: this Ajax wasn’t just some young team playing without fear. Juventus, Real Madrid, Tottenham, Chelsea, Valencia, we could trouble anyone, and they adapted to us."
Veltman’s passion for Ajax still shines through in the way he talks about the club. He continues to follow it closely and even attended Ajax–Telstar in the Johan Cruijff ArenA last August.
"It fit perfectly in my schedule. It was great to see everyone again, Ricardo van Rhijn, Siem de Jong, our team manager Herman Pinkster, and Alex Kroes."
Watching Chelsea - Ajax
A return to Ajax was even discussed briefly last summer, Veltman admits. "Yeah, but the timing wasn’t right. I still had a contract here. This summer, that contract ends, so it’ll be time to make a decision. Does Brighton want to continue with me? Do I go abroad again? Or is it time to come back to Ajax? I’ll take my time to think about it."
One thing’s for sure: on Wednesday, Veltman will be watching Chelsea–Ajax in the Champions League with more than casual interest. "Yeah, when I saw the draw, I thought: this is really cool. It’s great for Jorrel Hato, too, seeing and playing against old teammates. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get tickets and go myself, if it fits in Brighton’s schedule."
