A rock at the heart of Manchester City, Vincent Kompany is a wise and savvy soul. Elite reliability and a hunger for the game, we caught up with him at New Balance HQ to discover more about a player who has won, fought and taught on the pitch with the cream of the crop.
Signed up for Anderlecht at the age of six, has your passion for the game grown with age?
Yes, definitely. I was always passionate about playing the game and understanding the game but I think now I have that much more. I don't have this syndrome where I get to my thirties and I start thinking differently about football, if anything I've started to want to know more and more and have more opinions about the game. It's a really exciting point in my career for me personally.
Do you think there was a turning point where you thought you might want to start learning more about the game?
I think a couple of years back, it's probably comefrom working with different managers. Some players are happy working with one manager for their whole career, but I've seen it as a good thing for me to be able to work with different managers. I think everything starts from thinking about the work the manager is doing and you think, “would I do the same, or is he doing the right thing?” and obviously you learn a lot from all those managers. I've always enjoyed finding out about the game. A lot of the time though, you'll say “he was wrong” at the time but then a couple of years later you understand why he did it and the purpose for what the manager meant. It's all about learning.
Would you call yourself a fan of the game first and foremost?
I'm definitely a football fan first and foremost. I love everything about the game. It's so much more than a game. It is of course a game but it's one that can give so much more, so much to communities and so many experiences. It's a community and it's a lifestyle.
Are there experiences in your memory that symbolise why the game is so special and why it means so much to you?
The biggest thing I have experienced is the World Cup. You win a game and there is an entire country that comes to a stand still, and you are just doing what you love doing. The same goes with losing a game. You're almost not sure you can go back to that country – there's almost that much at stake sometimes. I do agree that it is a game but it has to be seen as something more powerful than that. It's not about anything other than what it means to so many people really.
You speak impeccable English, can you tell us a little bit about what it was like growing up for you and your first introduction to football?
My dad loved playing football so I grew up playing with him. As I grew up I was playing with my brother as well and I dunno, I tried to go to two smaller local clubs in Belgium but they weren't taking players my age so I'd always end up dissapointed as I wasn't able to play. We tried to then go to Anderlecht because they had age groups of six years old and after playing there, they said I could stay. So from the age of six to twenty I played for Anderlecht.
It was actually a little out of the way but it was only because the other local clubs were not taking players of my age. The main reason we wanted to join and find a club was to stay out of the neighborhood. We were very active kids and for my parents it was either they put us in a controlled environment like a football club or we'd end up playing outside in our neighborhood and that was not necessarily a good thing.
When you start out at such a young age, did you ever think about your style of play or does the way you play come naturally to you?
I was always very aggressive. I think everyone who would remember me from those age groups would remember me that way. I was a winner, I was definitely not as polished as I was when I came through at Anderlecht but I learnt very quickly – I always wanted to learn as well. One thing I always remember was that I was pretty unbeatable on one vs ones defensively. I very rarely remember getting beaten – it happened of course but if you set up a one vs one, I'm usually very good.
The Manchester City brand is growing enormously, the stadium has increased in size too - does it ever feel surreal to be leading a team like this out onto the pitch?
It's living the dream for me. I never dreamed of houses and cars and the only real dream for me was football and it was the only dream that was out there and achievable because I had never really seen wealth before. For me, it was the only thing that I saw on TV that seemed achievable – lifting trophies and I worked for it. But to say I would have done it abroad and how my career has been shaped out I could have never imagined that. I've had my set backs as well with injuries too. I was probably meant to be at a higher level earlier but I don't see that as a gap in my career that made me win less trophies, I actually see it as something that helped me build my character further and I'm really proud of that. If you look at all the stories about me when I was 17/18 – I was talked about as the next big thing. Then if you look at the stories about me when I was 19/20/21/22, it was all about the young player that was meant to be and whose career was washed away and never came back.
When I signed for City all the talk back home was actually that my career was gone, “why would a player like this sign for a club with so few ambitions” which was obviously wrong. It was the year that I started feeling better physically. I think it was pure luck that City was such a great club in its own right. I really had an incredible first season at the club and being able to grow with the club, it's been massive. I started feeling better physically and getting my ability back and so for me it's been a roller coaster but for some reason I've never doubted myself.
You have played with and against the world’s greatest. If you had to pin point certain elements of the greatest players you’ve been on the pitch with, what puts them in an elite bracket?
I think that background is most important. You have to be passionate about the game. When I say passionate, you have to be waking up thinking about the game, go to bed thinking football, go to school thinking football. You know, playing football with your mates at school and annoying them to play because they don't want to play as much as you do – annoying your Mum when you're playing football because she doesn't want you to break stuff in the house. When you finish a game with your team, you actually want to stay and keep on playing but your parents have to pull you away because they say you've got to go home and you've got to do your homework – that's what I see in a lot of the guys who have succeeded. The split happens around the age of 13/14 massively. Some go looking for girls and for nights out or whatever and the others kind of just stick with football.
Do you ever get that feeling now, when you've finished training and you just want to keep playing?
Yeah I do, I mean in my house I will always have a ball lying around and I'm trying to get my children involved. Now though, it's definitely something you think of along the lines of “have I warmed up properly, have I done this or that” because you get battered so much when you're playing week in, week out so sometimes it is more about energy. Somehow you seem to have more energy as a kid.
You are a humble player, but not afraid to get stuck in and retain the aggression and physicality of the game. Do you think the game is less physical today than ever or more physical? Or is it athletic in a completely new way?
I would say you see a lot more athletes in the game. I think it's almost generational that has come with my generation that you see a lot more athletes in the game. I think that's only going to evolve. In ten years time it's going to be a completely different game. For me, the physicality has always been a part of my game and that has always improved having moved from Belgium to Germany to England and gradually those leagues were more physical.
If there's one thing I would say about the Premier League or Great Britain, it is the only league I've seen where you can still be appreciated for being a physical player and where cheating is still condemned. Something that annoyed me when growing up, even playing in Belgium and then to Germany, it would go two ways, either players cheat all the time or referees get too involved and try and treat you like children. I think that's one thing that English football needs to protect more than anything else is first of all the referees and the way that they are able to treat players like adults and tell them to get on with things every once in a while because players are not that fragile.
Football is a demanding profession, what are the biggest challenges you face on and off the pitch?
I think the main thing is that you don't have any chances to have an off day. You are constantly under scrutiny. It's relative though you know, it's not like you are going somewhere and you need to find fifty quid to feed your children – it's not the same kind of pressure. But you always have a lot of people who like to get involved in what you do and there will always be a lot of people who have opinions about your life, about your profession and the way you do it. It's ruthless too, you know? As soon as you're not there, they'll kick you out. So it's the high pressure environment in which you have to find your peace.
Are there ways that you do that and find your peace as it were?
I was always good at keeping my private life private and there are things outside football that keep my head in a good place. I can be detached from the game - I know it can be a big piece of drama, it's like you go to the theatre; people clap, cheer and boo and you're in the middle just doing your thing. Then there comes a time when it is your time and you just go out there and carry on, so I'm pretty ok with the whole process of being in that position.
So much is won or lost in the finer details of football, how meticulous are you personally when it comes to preparing for a game?
I think it's only increased with age, I know what's good for me and what's not good for me. I know that every other player is also looking at what can make them stronger so I can't afford to lose a place whether it's at my own club or the competition from other clubs, I can't afford to let myself not be at my best.
And what about the manager (Pellegrini) – how does his style of training and preparation for the big matches compare to other managers you've worked under?
You know, there's not just one way to be successful, there's many ways. There's a couple of things you find that those managers at the top have, they're always very passionate about their work. Usually very clever about what they do. Though the methods are always very different. Preparation under Mark Hughes, Roberto Mancini and Pellegrini or any of the other managers I've had before, they've always been quite different, some quite drastically different.
Winning is obviously something every player is striving for, from losing games in the past, what’s the strongest lesson you’ve taken from defeat?
The biggest, biggest, biggest lesson I've ever had in my career was the Wigan game. The FA Cup final. You know, you've defeated Chelsea in the semi-final and you're going to Wembley thinking there's a 90% chance we'd win it. It's not a mindset I had before the game but just the feeling that things could go so wrong, it makes you realise that you can never ever afford to take anything for granted. I wouldn't ever have any regrets about that game, if it was a game where I thought they were too strong for us. This really felt like; you've already won the league, you've already won the FA Cup, got the trophies so all of a sudden you think maybe you can take your foot off the gas and that's not ok, that's something I've taken with me for the rest of my career from that game.
When it comes to linking up with brands and endorsements off the pitch, New Balance is a seamlessly cool brand - is it important to you to appreciate what a brand stands for before you can work with them?
Of course it's important. You always start with the brightest perspective and I think homework is done from both sides – the brands want to endorse the players and vice-versa you know, we want to be with the brand that can naturally strengthen what you are doing in the game. It's a normal thing for players and athletes to do now in pairing up with a brand that match one another.
Football shirts and boots often have the ability to capture memories and the spirit of football that is only truly personal to you, do you find that with the boots and kit you have played in?
Yeah, it goes back to something I think I haven't done enough of in my career – I've kept a few pieces of memorabilia but not enough. You're right, looking back you think about the shirts that you wore in certain games. I've still go the shirt that I wore against Man Utd when I scored a goal and the shirt I wore in the FA Cup final, but I haven't got the shirt I wore of the game against QPR at home. I might find it again one day but who knows. Later on you realise that those items are not just items, they are pieces of history, so I'll watch out for that in the future.
Your wife is a lifelong Manchester City fan I believe? Have you been able to experience much of the culture of Manchester and its greatness?
Through the family yeah. But it's not everyone in Manchester that is blue! So you get to see both sides of Manchester. Of course, through the family, my children have got a very strong relationship with their grandparents obviously, so throughout them and with my wife I've been able to experience what Manchester is all about. It's funny to see the rivalries even within the family. It's all quite fun but it's all about being either blue or red. There's two ways of being happy in Manchester, seeing your team win or seeing the other team lose.
You’re very much a thinker, an educated football player both on the pitch and off it. What was the last book you read or film you watched the left an impression on you?
I'm just watching Narcos at the moment. It's just really well made. Funnily enough I think if I go away, I'd probably have to study because of the course I'm taking but to switch off, I always need to watch or read something stupid or funny before I go to bed. So it'll either be South Park or a comic book or something that puts my mind to zero before I go to bed.
Is that something you've taught yourself that you needed to do?
Yeah, I tried that whole thing of going to bed and reading but that doesn't work for me. It gets my mind into overdrive so I tend to watch something like South Park, Family Guy or read a comic book and I can literally fall asleep doing that.
What is the greatest experience that football has been able to offer you?
If I take away the fact that I've been able to look after my family, give back to my family and take them out of trouble that we had when I was growing up and I got into football in the beginning, I would say it's the fact that I get to do the thing I like to do, and when you do that well you get so many people along on that journey with you and that's great. It's that great side of it. It can be the bad side too because obviously it goes both ways but like I said, the World Cup. There's just no explanation for what is going on during a World Cup – it's just you there and millions of people that wear your shirt, want to hear what you say and see what you do – it's crazy. And very important, children you know, they have the best time of their life just meeting you and that's what I was like when I was a child – I still can't get my head around that.
Vincent Kompany wears the new Baltic/Serene Green New Balance Football Visaro boot. To find out more about New Balance Football go to newbalance.com/football or follow @NBFootball on Twitter and Instagram. You can pick up a pair here.
