Royston Drenthe has attended the podcast "The Wild Project", where he talked about his past on the soccer fields. What nobody expected is the bomb revelation made by the former Real Madrid, publicly pointing to Leo Messi.
It all goes back to 2010, when Real Madrid loaned Royston Drenthe to Hércules. In a match against Barça, according to the Dutchman's explanation, Messi called him "shitty black." "In a match when I was at Hércules, against Barça, Messi called me 'shitty black'," he explained.
Drenthe continued: "Afterwards he told me that Argentine players called each other that way, that for them it was a normal thing. For example, they said it to Garay and he didn't mind, but they have to understand that a guy like me didn't like it. It's not the same for my friends to say it to me in training as for a rival to say it. We haven't talked about it since."
In this regard, finally Royston Drenthe has decided to downplay the matter, saying of Messi: "I have a lot of respect for him because he has been one of the best players in the world".
Royston Drenthe: This Was His Career
In 2007, Royston Drenthe arrived at Real Madrid after impressing the club's scouts at the Under-21 European Championship. In that tournament, he was named Golden Player, which led to his arrival at Santiago Bernabéu for something more than 13 million euros.
Wearing the Real Madrid jersey, Drenthe played a total of 65 matches, in which he scored four goals. His record is scarce: one League and one Spanish Super Cup, both tournaments won in 2008.
After an inconsistent performance, it was decided to loan him to Hércules in 2010, when the incident he reports with Leo Messi occurred. A year later, he accumulated another loan heading to Everton, while once his contract ended, he headed to Russia.
Now, after multiple teams and being already 37 years old, Drenthe is retired and has no intention of returning to the soccer fields. It is clear that, looking back, he hasn't had the performance that was expected when he excelled in that Under-21 European Championship, and his career hasn't been as good as initially expected.