Kaj Sierhuis

Kaj Sierhuis (born 27 April 1998) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward for Eredivisie club Fortuna Sittard. Born in Greece, he is a youth international for the Netherlands.

Kaj Sierhuis
Sierhuis in 2023
Personal information
Date of birth (1998-04-27) 27 April 1998
Place of birth Athens, Greece
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Fortuna Sittard
Number 9
Youth career
2003–2009 WSV '30
2009–2018 Ajax
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2020 Jong Ajax 41 (22)
2018–2019 Ajax 2 (0)
2018–2019 → Groningen (loan) 33 (9)
2020–2023 Reims 41 (0)
2021–2022 → Heracles Almelo (loan) 18 (4)
2023 Reims B 1 (0)
2023– Fortuna Sittard 0 (0)
International career
2013–2014 Netherlands U16 3 (2)
2015–2016 Netherlands U18 1 (0)
2016–2017 Netherlands U19 10 (4)
2017–2018 Netherlands U20 8 (2)
2018–2021 Netherlands U21 13 (9)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 3 July 2023

Club career

Ajax

Sierhuis was born in Athens, Greece, on 27 April 1998, when his father, Cock Sierhuis, was president of AEK Athens.[2] The family returned to the Netherlands when Kaj was four years old, and he grew up in Jisp, North Holland.[3][4]

He had started playing football with WSV '30 in Wormer in the province of North Holland as a five-year-old before moving the to Ajax Youth Academy at age 11.[4][1] In August 2016, he signed his first professional contract and made his first appearances for Jong Ajax on 25 November 2016 in an Eerste Divisie match against Telstar.[5] That season he also continued to play for the under-19 team in the league and in the UEFA Youth League. In the 2016–17 season, he was top goalscorer in the UEFA Youth League alongside Jordi Mboula of Barcelona.[6] In the 2017–18 season, Sierhuis, who had outgrown the youth teams, was not always part of the regular lineup, but scored 14 goals in 20 appearances and became second-tier Eerste Divisie champion with Ajax's second team, which could however not win promotion due to Dutch league rules.[7] Sierhuis made his first competitive appearance for the Ajax first team on 25 July 2018 in a 2–0 win in the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round against Sturm Graz.[8]

After making just two appearances in the Eredivisie, Sierhuis agreed to a loan move to Groningen until the end of the season with an option to buy.[9][10][11] He quickly earned a starting place as Groningen qualified for play-offs for a place in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round. There, the Groningen side was eliminated in the first round by Vitesse.[12]

Reims

On 1 February 2020, Sierhuis signed with Ligue 1 club Reims on a long-term contract.[13][14] He made his debut for the club on 5 February 2020, starting in a league game against Nice, but had to be replaced by Nathanaël Mbuku in the 13th minute after falling out with a hamstring injury.[15][16] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this remained Sierhuis' only appearance for Reims in the 2019–20 season.[17]

In the 2020–21 season, he made regular appearances for Reims, but his playing time decreased from the beginning of 2021 and he was sent on a one-season loan to Eredivisie club Heracles Almelo in August 2021.[18] After 19 total appearances in which he scored one goal, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament on 11 February 2022 against Utrecht and was sidelined for the rest of the season.[19]

He rejoined the Reims squad for the 2022–23 season.[20]

Fortuna Sittard

On 2 August 2023, Sierhuis returned to the Netherlands and signed a three-year contract with Fortuna Sittard.[21]

Honours

Jong Ajax

References
  1. "Kaj Sierhuis | Stade de Reims". Stade de Reims (in French). Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  2. Sintenie, Dick (16 September 2018). "Cock Sierhuis: 'Ik denk niet dat ze weten dat Kaj bij Ajax speelt'". Het Parool (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  3. Meijden, Frank van der (7 February 2022). "Jispenaar Kaj Sierhuis voor even terug bij Ajax: "Weinig te verliezen"". NH Nieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  4. "Het Verhaal Achter: Kaj Sierhuis". Ajax Showtime (in Dutch). 21 September 2016. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  5. "Jong Ajax – SC Telstar 2:1 (Eerste Divisie 2016/2017, 15. Spieltag)". WorldFootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  6. Bruijn, Thijs de (30 April 2019). "Hoe is het nu met de topscorers van de UEFA Youth League?". Elfvoetbal (in Dutch). Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  7. "Jong Ajax kampioen, Fortuna Sittard promoveert!". Keuken Kampioen Divisie (in Dutch). 28 April 2018. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  8. "Magistrale Ziyech neemt Ajax bij de hand tegen pover Sturm". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 25 July 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  9. "Ajax verhuurt Sierhuis aan FC Groningen". Ajax (Press release) (in Dutch). 31 December 2018. Archived from the original on 1 January 2019.
  10. "Sierhuis komt en Cassierra gaat bij FC Groningen". FC Groningen (Press release) (in Dutch). 31 December 2018. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  11. "Ajax laat Sierhuis en Matusiwa in kelder Eredivisie minuten maken". Voetbal International (in Dutch). 27 December 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  12. "FC Groningen op pijnlijke wijze uitgeschakeld in play-offs door Vitesse". RTV Noord (in Dutch). 21 May 2019. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  13. "Ajax and Stade de Reims reach agreement for Kaj Sierhuis". Ajax (Press release). 1 February 2020. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  14. "Kaj Sierhuis rondt transfer af en verkast per direct naar Ligue 1". GOAL (in Dutch). 31 January 2020. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  15. "Reims : Kaj Sierhuis et Mathieu Cafaro sortent sur blessure". L'Équipe (in French). 5 February 2020. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  16. Mostert, Dominic (5 February 2020). "Drama voor Kaj Sierhuis bij competitiedebuut voor Stade Reims". Voetbalzone (in Dutch). Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  17. Jansen, Freek (18 March 2020). "Kaj Sierhuis is terug op vertrouwde bodem: 'In Nederland kan je tenminste nog naar buiten om te rennen'". Dagblad van het Noorden (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  18. "Heracles Almelo huurt Kaj Sierhuis". Heracles (in Dutch). 31 August 2021. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  19. Wagenaar, Fardau (15 February 2022). "Spits Kaj Sierhuis scheurt kruisband en keert niet meer terug bij Heracles". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  20. Schoenher, Emilien (13 June 2022). "Stade de Reims : Sierhuis, quel bilan de son prêt ?". Score.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 12 September 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  21. "FORTUNA HAALT KAJ SIERHUIS TERUG NAAR NEDERLAND" [FORTUNA BRINGS KAJ SIERHUIS BACK TO THE NETHERLANDS] (in Dutch). Fortuna Sittard. 2 August 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  22. Kaj Sierhuis at Soccerway
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.