Brentford number one Mark Flekken reflects on his journey between the sticks from childhood to the Premier League…
Header Image: Via Brentford FC
For the neutral onlooker, Brentford’s 3-2 defeat away at Tottenham Hotspur in late January was no bookies’ upset. An entertaining tie to watch, yes. But perhaps nothing distinctly out of the ordinary.
It was a chilly afternoon in North London. One of those where the creeping long winter nights quickened its encroachment upon the grey skies above the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Spurs away wouldn’t have lived long in the Bees’ memory; the fixture was one of many during that mid-season winter slog that so often tests clubs’ squad depth to the max. For goalkeepers, mother nature tries to make life as difficult as possible at the front end of the year.
But in the mind of Brentford’s number one Mark Flekken, that cold afternoon away against messrs Maddison, Richarlison, Werner and Co. marked something of a rebirth.
“It was a process”, Flekken explains, speaking exclusively to Goalkeeper.com about adjusting to life as a Premier League number one.
“For a few months before that Tottenham game, I was putting the performances in in training, and felt like I was at a good level. But the transition to game day was missing. That was the last missing link, the last piece of the puzzle to fit it all together again”.
Flekken has spoken very openly about his initial struggle to find his groove in English top flight football. He’s his own harshest critic. At Tottenham, those self-doubts began to dissipate, following some work with Ajax’s psychology coach, Joost Leenders.
“That afternoon I felt like my true self. It was like a switch where I could say, okay, I now feel like the goalkeeper that Brentford paid a lot of money for”, he continues.
An impressive display against Manchester City nearly a month later only went further to cement Flekken’s self-belief.
The Dutchman professes that he is not much of a speaker, but prides himself on leading by example. It’s understandable why Flekken was initially reluctant to admit to himself that he’d reached a ceiling and - as he explains himself - needed to try a ‘third way’ in revitalising his mindset. He’s an outwardly relaxed character, with a sleek but casual dress sense to match, sipping on a glass of water as we continue our conversation.
His persona sits nicely within a complementary goalkeeper department at Brentford, led by Spaniard Manu Sotelo, who replaced Inaki Cana upon the latter’s move to Arsenal to work with Mikel Arteta.
“We work together very, very well”, says Flekken of the Bees’ goalkeeper group.
“The most important thing is that there is a good work atmosphere. There should be competition and there should be challenges; keeping me on my toes helps me to be the best version of myself.”
“The club was very clear on the order of the goalkeepers from the start of my first season. Even though in the first half of the season, I wasn't at my best performance-wise, they kept the trust in me as the number one. I know from experience that that can be very hard for a second goalkeeper, especially when you have a second goalkeeper that has the capability of being the number one as well.”
“But”, he stresses, “the working atmosphere is good - and we are all just trying to do the best job possible for the team”.
Strong relationships have formed an important part of Flekken’s career to-date. He credits his agent Maikel Stevens as an important factor in his mental uplift last season. Stevens is somebody that Flekken calls a friend. “In every situation, he has pulled off the right move for me. We have built up that trust in which we can be honest to each other. We know what to expect from each other.”
That straight and honest relationship is also what the Dutchman values in goalkeeping coach Sotelo. “I want to be challenged”, Flekken insists. But, at the same time, a “father figure” character also goes a long way in the Brentford goalkeepers’ union.
Familial relationships also played an important role in Flekken’s early career.
“Is goalkeeping a family thing? That’s a good question”, Flekken chuckles. His brother was a goalkeeper, and he recalls both his uncle and Godfather playing between the sticks at an amateur level, too.
Yet, it was out yonder beyond the penalty area that the Dutchman’s career began.
“I started as an outfield player, but at the same time was joining in at goalkeeper training, just because it was fun. I love diving and jumping around in the mud, things you do as a little kid. And for the fact that I loved football in general that much. So I did both at the same time. I kept playing as an outfield player till I was 10.
“At that point, the goalkeeper in our youth team didn't want to play football anymore. The question came up if I wanted to go in goal. My father always told me like, at some point, there's a point coming where you have to choose between staying as an outfield player or going in goal. And he always warned me about if you make a choice, we're going to keep you to that choice. At that point around my 10th birthday, I chose to just go in goal”, he recalls.
“My parents always told me that school was very important, but there came a point where a professional career seemed possible to me.”
That turn of mind came in the form of German club Alemannia Aachen, situated only 50 minutes across the border from Flekken’s hometown of Kerkrade, the Netherlands. It was a club where he recalls being “pushed very hard by a good goalkeeper coach” who eventually helped him make the step up to the first team, signing a professional contract at 18.
The early years were not easy for Flekken. At 22, an ACL injury sustained in a strong pre-season sidelined him for some months.
“I really had that feeling that I had the trust from the coach, from the goalkeeper coach and that they were willing to push me. Then the ACL injury hit me. It drew me back a fair part in my development but yeah, that was one of the moments where I really felt low.
It wouldn’t be the last poorly-timed serious injury Flekken would have to endure during his career on the continent. Moves to SpVgg Greuther Fürth and MSV Duisburg came between Aachen and SC Freiburg. Within a year of joining the latter, he was faced with a first proper run of matches in the Bundesliga as a starting goalkeeper. It was a move that got off to the worst possible start.
“I finally became the number one goalkeeper in Freiburg and at the start of my first Bundesliga season as number one, in the warm up before the first game of the season, I dislocated my elbow and it threw me out for the season.
“If you’d have asked me which injury was worse I would say the elbow one. I had patiently waited and worked hard for two years for that moment to become number one. I really was ready to kickstart that season - into my career on the top level, and then just all the ground down right beneath my feet. I'm not gonna lie, I even shed a tear on the day that I had to decide which surgeon to choose to operate on my elbow.”
The highs and the lows have given Flekken a good arsenal of advice for the younger generation. At Brentford, he’s senior to goalkeepers Matthew Cox, Julian Eyestone, and Hakon Vladimarsson, all of whom have featured in Brentford’s pre-season squads. Whether its difficult club circumstances, as Flekken experienced with Aachen, or injury setbacks, his mantra is clear.
“You still have to try and make the best of your career. No matter what happens throughout your career, you are always gonna give 100%. Work hard, put in your effort, and then try to make the best out of it.”
*
Flekken and his family arrived on English shores in the summer of 2023 following David Raya’s long-anticipated move to Arsenal. Using Goalkeeper xG in the process to help them identify a best-fit goalkeeper to replace the Spaniard, Brentford secured Flekken’s signing. It was a transfer that had first been touted in 2022. The family had made the decision to stay in Germany for one more year, but the Bees’ interest didn’t falter.
“In 2022, the complete picture wouldn't have fitted together as well as it did the year after. But Brentford stayed true to their belief of me being able to fill David's shoes, big shoes that he left when he left the club”, explains the Dutchman.
Despite speaking a good level of English, any move abroad naturally brings its own stresses. Clubs at the elite level go a long way to helping new players settle into new environments, with the focus on ‘player care’ growing in the contemporary game. A language barrier is perhaps the biggest obstacle to overcome, followed by the environmental differences of everyday life.
Goalkeepers are human beings, and entering a new cultural environment (often with families at their side) is a challenge in itself - even if the language barrier is surmounted.
“When we have changed clubs within Germany, everything would have been more or less on autopilot because I've played 14 years in Germany so I was used to everything in there”, he explains.
"When I got to England, that was all just completely different. Everything you did you needed help or some explanation. It's a different language, although we speak a fair share of English, as people in the Netherlands do as well, so it's not a completely strange language. But still finding the right terms and stuff like that when you speak to other people in the UK, it still takes getting used to.
"You need help with a lot. Schools are different. Finding a place to live wasn't that easy in London. We knew before the end of the season that we would change clubs to Brentford. So we had some things already planned ahead.
“I took me a while longer than I would have hoped for to get used to it, get settled. Luckily, at this point, I can say I'm finally settled, and my family are well”, he concludes.
Another beast which remains perpetually present wherever a player goes is the media. The English press, infamous for its miss-nothing eagle eyes, has long been described as one of the most difficult adversaries for any footballer coming to play in the Premier League.
Three months into Flekken’s first season at Brentford, the Times published an interview with him entitled ‘Meet Mark Flekken: the goalkeeper who conceded whilst having a drink’.
In February 2018, Flekken had indeed done just that in a 2. Bundesliga match against Ingolstadt.
“You're allowed to ask that, that's not a problem!”, he jokes, before the question is even asked.
For Flekken, the ever-present media glare is a lurking daily reality you get used to. Perhaps that’s partly why ‘water bottle-gate’ didn’t phase him.
“I wouldn’t say I pay attention to it, but there's points where you hear things automatically. I don't think you can close off the media world completely as a football player”, he admits.
“It's just part of being a football player. Have I noticed a shift in the press? No, I've noticed a shift in people talking more on social media. The Premier League is the biggest league in the world. It gets a lot more attention.
“I don't mind journalists being heavy on criticism or whatever? It’s part of the world we're in. As long as it's about football and not stuff on a personal level, it is what it is.”
It’s that same moderate, calm demeanour that keeps Flekken’s head in the game when walking out on Premier League pitches up and down the country. Is the psychological element of goalkeeping the hardest and most important bit? Perhaps. He insists that removing the self from those ninety minutes is the key.
When he walks out in front of 70,000 fans, “there’s not much going on in my head”, muses Flekken. “Just focus on the game”.
“I've had some goalkeeper coaches who said to me, even if it isn't going great for your team, you can always play for yourself. And then I would say no, no, that's just not true. Because as a goalkeeper, you can't play for yourself. You always play for your team.
“You're always acting in service of your teammates”, he concludes.
“And if you do that well, then you help yourself. The goalkeeper's ego always comes second.”
Brentford kick off the 2024/25 season at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday 18th August at 2PM.
