Dylan Mertens

Dylan Mertens (born 20 July 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Botev Plovdiv in the Bulgarian First League.[1]

Dylan Mertens
Personal information
Date of birth (1995-07-20) 20 July 1995
Place of birth Amsterdam, Netherlands
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Botev Plovdiv
Number 6
Youth career
SDW
DWS
0000–2008 AFC
2008–2010 FC Utrecht
2010–2011 AFC
2011–2013 SV Argon
2013–2014 FC Den Bosch
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2018 Volendam 38 (2)
2018–2019 Telstar 19 (2)
2019 TOP Oss 1 (0)
2020 Koninklijke 4 (1)
2020–2021 Tsarsko Selo 25 (1)
2021– Botev Plovdiv 56 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19 October 2023

Career

Youth

Mertens was born in Amsterdam. He played for SDW, DWS and AFC before joining the FC Utrecht Youth Academy in 2008. Two years later he had to leave and decided to return to AFC. His return was not for long and after one season he moved to SV Argon. In the summer of 2013 he made the move to FC Den Bosch, where he played with the A1 (Under 19).

FC Volendam

In the preparation of the 2014–15 season, Mertens joined FC Volendam on an amateur basis.[2] That season, he played 15 matches in the second team in which he scored 4 times. He also made it to the match selection of the first team two times, but didn't make his debut. On 30 March 2015, he signed his first professional contract with FC Volendam, until mid 2017.[3]

In the summer of 2015, Mertens joined the first team. On 7 August 2015, he made his debut for FC Volendam in the league match against NAC Breda (4–1 win). He replaced Rafik El Hamdi after 79 minutes.[4] On 18 September 2015, he scored his first goal for FC Volendam, the opening goal in a 2–0 win against Helmond Sport.[5] In February 2016, Mertens extended his contract at FC Volendam until mid 2018.[6]

In the preparation of the 2016–17 season, Mertens tore off his front crossband and was unable to play for the rest of the season.[7] On 29 April 2017, 10 months later, he made his comeback in a match of Jong FC Volendam against FC Rijnvogels.

TOP Oss

On 8 August 2019, it was announced that Mertens had signed a contract until the summer 2020 with TOP Oss.[8] However, after a disappointing start on the season, the club announced on 17 October 2019, that Mertens was one of three players that had left the club.[9]

References
  1. Dylan Mertens at WorldFootball.net
  2. Hans de Koning stelt de nieuwkomers voor groot-waterland.nl, 5 August 2014
  3. FC Volendam legt weer twee Zaanse talenten vast Zaans Soccer Talent, 4 May 2015
  4. Game Report by Soccerway
  5. Game Report by Soccerway
  6. FC Volendam breekt contract van Dylan Mertens open FC Volendam, 10 February 2016
  7. Drama voor Dylan Mertens FC Volendam, 12 July 2016
  8. Dennis Hettinga en Dylan Mertens blijven in Oss, toposs.nl, 8 August 2019
  9. Drie spelers vertrekken bij TOP Oss; Ioannidis is nieuw, toposs.nl, 17 October 2019
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