Georginio Wijnaldum

Georginio Wijnaldum

Wijnaldum with Feyenoord in 2007
Personal information
Full name	Georginio Gregion Emile Wijnaldum
Date of birth	(1990-11-11) 11 November 1990
Place of birth	Rotterdam, Netherlands
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder/Winger
Club information
Current club	PSV
Number	10
Youth career
1997–2004	Sparta Rotterdam
2004–2007	Feyenoord
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2007–2011	Feyenoord	111	(23)
2011–	PSV	71	(27)
National team‡
2005–2007	Netherlands U17	15	(4)
2007–2009	Netherlands U19	17	(5)
2009–2013	Netherlands U21	25	(10)
2011–	Netherlands	3	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14 September 2013. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:35, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Georginio Gregion Emile Wijnaldum (born 11 November 1990) is a Dutch international footballer who currently plays as an attacking midfielder for Dutch Eredivisie club PSV.

A youth product of Feyenoord, he is the youngest player ever to represent the team professionally and played 130 matches for them in a five-year period.

Wijnaldum's favorite position is the central playmaker role, where he often played in his youth career.

Early life

Georginio Wijnaldum was born and raised in Rotterdam, South Holland.^[1] At the age of six his parents divorced and his mother moved to Amsterdam.^[1] Wijnaldum decided to stay in Rotterdam and moved in with his grandmother, where he lived the remaining part of his childhood.^[2] Georginio is of Afro-Surinamese descent and he holds a Dutch passport.

In Wijnaldum's youngest years he never showed interest in football. He never played with a ball or watched football on TV. His ambition was to become a gymnast or acrobat. This changed when Wijnaldum's nephew asked him to come to Sparta Rotterdam's opening day with him; then he got invited to the Sparta Rotterdam youth academy and his love for football started to grow slowly.^[3]

Wijnaldum has two younger brothers, Giliano and Rogerio. Giliano Wijnaldum is currently playing for FC Groningen. He is also the cousin of midfielder Royston Drenthe.

Name

• Georginio Wijnaldum used to be known as "Georginio Boateng": "My mother was married with a man whose last name was Boateng". The last name "Boateng" is an Akan surname and the Dutch surname "Wijnaldum" is his mother's last name.^[1][2][4]

Club career

Youth career

At the age of six, Wijnaldum developed himself rapidly at Sparta Rotterdam, winning two championship titles in his first two seasons. Soon Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord showed interest in the youngster, but Wijnaldum declined all offers: "I didn't watch football on TV and I didn't know any of the first team players of Sparta or any of the top clubs. I only knew the real famous players of Oranje, so the offers didn't impress me much. I had a good time at Sparta, I wanted to stay." After playing for Sparta Rotterdam for seven seasons and representing the Netherlands at various youth levels, Wijnaldum decided to accept a new Feyenoord offer. He was convinced playing for Feyenoord was better for his development as a football player and believed in Feyenoord's vision.^[3]

At Feyenoord, Wijnaldum joined a successful generation with the likes of Leroy Fer and Luís Pedro. Wijnaldum stood out as an exceptional talent. In January 2007, a few weeks after turning 16, Wijnaldum was invited to the first team's training camp in Belek, Turkey, by Feyenoord manager Erwin Koeman.^[5]

Feyenoord (2007–2011)

On 8 April 2007, Wijnaldum made his official debut in Feyenoord's starting line-up in the Eredivisie home match against FC Groningen (0–4).^[6] At the age of 16 and 148 days, Wijnaldum became the youngest player ever to play in Feyenoord's first team and was chosen Feyenoord's man of the match. On 2 December 2007, Wijnaldum scored his first Eredivisie goal for Feyenoord against Heracles Almelo in a 6–0 home win.^[7]

In the season 2008–09 Wijnaldum made his official European debut. On 18 September 2008, Wijnaldum was named in the starting line-up in the UEFA Cup home match against Kalmar FF (0–1).^[8] On 2 October 2008, Wijnaldum scored his first European goal for Feyenoord in the return match against Kalmar FF, which resulted in a 1–2 win and a place in the group stage.^[9]

On 6 March 2009, Wijnaldum signed a new contract at Feyenoord which keeps him in de Kuip until summer 2012.^[10] On 27 February 2011 Wijnaldum helped his struggling Feyenoord to a 5–1 demolition of FC Groningen, scoring four goals. He scored two goals from open play in the first half and two more from the penalty spot to add his total for the season to 8 goals.^[11]

PSV Eindhoven (2011–)

On 29 June 2011 the technical director of Feyenoord announced that they had reached a transfer deal for Wijnaldum reported to be worth 5,000,000 EUR with PSV Eindhoven.^[12] On the opening day of Eredivisie 2011/12 season, Wijnaldum made his debut for PSV in a 3–1 loss against AZ.^[13] On 21 August 2011, Wijnaldum scored his first goal for PSV in a 3–0 victory against ADO Den Haag. Since joining the club, Wijnaldum established himself in the starting eleven as he scores goals and develops assists from his attacking role in midfield in Eredivisie, KNVB Beker and Europa League. After the retirement of Mark van Bommel and the departure of Kevin Strootman in the summer of 2013, Wijnaldum was named PSV's captain for the 2013-14 Eredivisie season.

International career

Netherlands U17 & U19

Wijnaldum was one of the key players of the Netherlands U17 on the 2007 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship in Belgium. The team finished third in their group behind England and Belgium, failing to qualify for the knock-out stage. Quickly after the 2007 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship, Wijnaldum got selected for the Netherlands U19. Despite excellent individual performances, the team underachieved and failed to qualify for the 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship in Czech Republic and 2009 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship in Ukraine.

On 12 November 2008, the young midfielder got invited to the Netherlands B by manager Johan Neeskens. Wijnaldum had to deny the invitation due to an injury.^[14]

Netherlands U21

Wijnaldum had to deny his first Netherlands U21 invitation on 9 August 2009.^[15] Wijnaldum received an invitation for the friendly match against England U21 by manager Cor Pot.^[16] Wijnaldum made his official Netherlands U21 debut on 4 September 2009, in the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification match against Finland U21 (2–0).

Netherlands national football team

On 30 May 2011 it was announced that Wijnaldum would be part of the Dutch squad playing two friendlies in South America versus Brazil and Uruguay. He made no appearances in either match.^[17] He made his debut in the match against San Marino on 2 September 2011. He entered the field as a substitute in the 86th minute and promptly scored his first international goal in the 90th minute.

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	2 September 2011	Philips Stadion, Eindhoven	San Marino	11–0	11–0	Euro 2012 qualifying

Statistics

Honours

Club

Feyenoord

• KNVB Cup: 2007–08

PSV Eindhoven

• KNVB Cup: 2011–12

Individual

• Rotterdam talent of the year: 2007^[18]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Georginio Wijnaldum.

• Voetbal International: Georginio Wijnaldum (Dutch)
• Official Georginio Wijnaldum profile on Feyenoord.nl (Dutch)
• www.transfermarkt.co.uk
• Holland U17 stats at OnsOranje
• Holland U19 stats at OnsOranje
• Holland U21 stats at OnsOranje