West Bromwich Albion new-boy inspired by a family Slory

Feb 7 2010 by Andy Walker, Sunday Mercury

Slory is just one of a long list of Suriname-born Dutch footballers who have gone on to make it at a decent level.

Although born in Rotterdam, Albion’s Gianni Zuiverloon, a close pal of Slory’s, is of Suriname descent, as was former Baggies flop Ryan Donk.

Slory was raised in the South American country’s capital Paramaribo, the birthplace of AC Milan star Clarence Seedorf.

And looking down the names of footballers that he has followed across the Atlantic, the goal-scoring wideman realises that he’s got a lot to live up to.

“There’s a whole list of players who have come from Suriname, the likes of Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Patrick Kluivert has family from there, Regi Blinker, I could go on and on. I know some of them personally very well. Kluivert is a good friend of mine, as is Dean Gorre.

“The guys I’ve named have had a wonderful career so of course I want to achieve the same, that would be perfect.”

Slory, who progressed through the Dutch league with Telstar and Excelsior before joining Feyenoord in 2007, has represented Holland at international level.

Stand-out performances during his final season with Excelsior, saw ex-Holland boss Marco Van Basten invite Slory on a summer tour of Asia with the national team.

He went on to pick up two caps for the Oranje, however, an injury-hampered spell at Feyenoord means Slory has failed to add to that tally.

The Netherlands convincingly booked a place at this summer’s World Cup in South Africa, in a group that contains Denmark, Japan and Cameroon.

Many would expect Slory to be harbouring hopes of producing a blistering start to his Hawthorns career in order to book a late place on the Dutch team plane bound for South Africa.

However, surprisingly, Slory is quick to dismiss any talk of a return to action for Holland by admitting that his hopes with the national team are ‘closed’.

“It’s not a personal choice, I’m just being realistic because I think for now the Dutch team is closed for me,” he admitted.

“I’m not thinking about the national team. I’m just thinking about West Brom. For me, there is nothing there with the Dutch team.”