Luuk de Jong

De Jong with Twente in 2010

Luuk de Jong (right) in a 2011 Europa League match against Rubin Kazan

On 20 August 2011, De Jong scored his first Eredivisie goal of the 2011–12 season in a 5–1 win over Heerenveen.[5] The following week, on De Jong's 21st birthday, he found the back of the net two more times as Twente beat VVV Venlo 4–1.[6]

De Jong scored two goals against Waalwijk on 21 January 2012 – a tap in to an open goal and a penalty – as Twente won 5–0.[7] In Twente's following fixture against Groningen on 29 January, De Jong netted a hat-trick, each goal coming off an assist from Ola John,[8] and provided an assist for Leroy Fer, as his side won 4–1 and climbed to second place in the league table.[9] On 10 February, De Jong found the back of the net two more times, but Twente missed the chance to go top of the league table, as they lost 3–2 at home to Heracles.[10] De Jong's two goals meant he had scored seven times in the past three Eredivisie fixtures.

On 8 March, in a Europa League match against Schalke 04, De Jong was the protagonist of a controversial penalty decision[11] that resulted in a red card for Schalke defender Joël Matip, and a penalty kick which he himself successfully converted, to ensure the win for his side by 1–0.[12] However, Twente ended up falling out of the competition, losing 4–1 in the second leg in Germany, as de Jong's fellow Dutchman Klaas-Jan Huntelaar netted a hat-trick.[13]

De Jong scored twice in two minutes on 14 April to put his side 2–1 up away to Breda, but an injury-time strike from Nourdin Boukhari denied Twente the chance to close the gap on title rivals Ajax.[14] He finished the season with 25 goals on a joint-second place, seven behind top-scorer Bas Dost.

At the end of the 2011–12 season, De Jong announced his decision to leave the club.[15] Having attracted the interest of several clubs around Europe, including Premier League side Newcastle United, de Jong accused the club's chairman Joop Munsterman of increasing the asking price for him.[16] In response, the Munsterman and Steve McClaren expressed dismay over de Jong's comments.[17]

On 18 July 2012, De Jong signed for Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach on a five-year deal, with a fee of €15 million (£12.6m), having stated it was his dream to join.[18][19] Eight months later after the move, de Jong stated the Bundesliga was "a great place to develop as a player".[20]

He made his debut with Mönchengladbach in a match against Munich 1860; his team ended up winning 4–2, however, De Jong was quite anonymous during his first match, failing to score or assist any goals.[18] On 21 August, he started his first European game for Mönchengladbach and in the process scored an own goal from a free kick in a 3–1 defeat at the hands of Dynamo Kyiv during the Champions League Qualifiers.[21] On 15 September, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 defeat to 1. Nürnberg, converting a tap in after a cross from Patrick Herrmann.[22] However, later in the season, De Jong's first team opportunities soon faded after falling out with manager Lucien Favre, and only made 23 appearances, scoring six times. Towards the end of the season, De Jong reiterated he was confident he could prove himself as the best striker.[23]

However, in the 2013–14 season, De Jong's first team place remained limited, as his playing minutes significantly decreased and made 14 appearances in the first half of the season.

On 29 January 2014, De Jong completed a loan signing with Premier League side Newcastle United until the end of the 2013–14 season.[24] He made his debut on 1 February in the Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland. In May 2014, it was announced that de Jong would be returning to Borussia Mönchengladbach after he failed to score in any of his twelve appearances for Newcastle.[25]

On 12 July 2014, De Jong signed a five-year deal with PSV for a fee of €5.5m.[26] Following his move to PSV, De Jong said he felt he had made a mistake by moving to Germany.[27]

De Jong made his official debut for the club, where he scored in both legs, as PSV beat St. Pölten 4–2 on aggregate in the third round of Europa League.[28][29] It took until 31 August 2014 for De Jong to score his first league goal for the club, in a 2–0 win over Vitesse Arnhem.[30]

On 17 December 2014, De Jong scored his first hat-trick for the club in a 4–3 home win over Feyenoord, and his second on 13 February 2015 in a 4–2 away win over AZ Alkmaar. He also scored twice on 18 April, as the team defeated Heerenveen 4–1 for their 22nd Eredivisie title and first since 2008.[31]

On 2 August 2015, De Jong scored a double to help PSV clinch the 2015 Johan Cruyff Shield.[32]

On 1 July 2019, De Jong signed a four-year contract with Spanish club Sevilla.[33] On 16 August 2020, de Jong scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Manchester United in the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League.[34] On 21 August, he scored twice in a 3–2 win over Inter Milan in the final, whilst being named the man of the match.[35][36] With his performance in the Europa League, he subsequently was named in the Squad of the Season.[37]

On 28 October 2020, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Rennes in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage.[38]

On 31 August 2021, De Jong joined Barcelona on a season-long loan until 30 June 2022.[39] On 23 September, he made his debut in a goalless draw against Cádiz, starting and playing 67 minutes before being substituted for Philippe Coutinho.[40] Three days later, he scored his first goal for the club, assisted by Sergiño Dest, in a 3–0 La Liga victory over Levante.[41]

PSV announced on 2 July 2022 that De Jong would return to the club, where he signed a contract until mid-2025.[40] He immediately got a starting place again, played the first two league games and scored once. During a qualifying match in the preliminary round of the Champions League, he only sustained an injury, which prevented him from playing for more than two months. Once recovered, he returned to the base and scored 14 goals in 24 rounds in the Eredivisie. With that, he brought his total number of Eredivisie goals for PSV to 108 and passed Romário, Mateja Kežman and Hallvar Thoresen in the list of all-time club top scorers. From that moment on he only had to tolerate Willy van der Kuijlen, Coen Dillen and Luc Nilis. On 4 August 2023 De Jong was the first player ever to play the match for the Johan Cruijff Scale for the seventh time. He won it for the sixth time that day. This put him on a level with Ronald Waterreus. Nevertheless, De Jong was also the first to win this prize six times by actually playing all these matches. Water Giant was the winner once while standing in reserve for ninety minutes.

De Jong finished second in the Eredivisie with PSV in 2022/23. As a result, he and his teammates were allowed to take part in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League in the early stages of 2023/24. The team from Eindhoven and he won twice against Sturm Graz in the third qualifying round (4–1 at home and 1–3 away). De Jong scored three times in those matches. With that, he brought his total number of goals in a European context on behalf of PSV to seventeen, just as many as Harry Lubse. Only Van der Kuijlen scored more often for PSV in European tournaments (29 times). De Jong then also scored in both games of the decisive play-off against Glasgow Rangers. This brought his total to nineteen and he passed Lubse. Because he and PSV won that meeting, he was also allowed to participate in the Champions League for the seventh time in his career. For PSV, this was the first time since 2018/19, the last year of De Jong's first period in Eindhoven service.

As of match played 24 October 2023[46][47]

Scores and results list Netherlands' goal tally first.[48]

List of international goals scored by Luuk de Jong

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	6 September 2011	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	Finland	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
2	25 March 2016	Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands	France	1–2	2–3	Friendly
3	27 May 2016	Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland	Republic of Ireland	1–0	1–1
4	14 November 2017	Arena Națională, Bucharest, Romania	Romania	3–0	3–0
5	10 October 2019	De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Northern Ireland	2–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
6	24 March 2021	Atatürk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey	Turkey	2–3	2–4	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	27 March 2021	Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Latvia	2–0	2–0
8	30 March 2021	Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar	Gibraltar	2–0	7–0