Jonathan de Guzmán

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Jonathan de Guzmán

De Guzmán with Feyenoord in 2007
Personal information
Full nameJonathan Alexander de Guzmán[1]
Date of birth (1987-09-13) 13 September 1987
Place of birthScarborough, Ontario, Canada
Height1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing positionAttacking midfielder
Club information
Current clubSwansea City
(on loan from Villarreal)
Number20
Youth career
1999–2005Feyenoord
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2005–2010Feyenoord109(23)
2010–2011Mallorca34(6)
2011–Villarreal19(0)
2012–→ Swansea City (loan)57(6)
National team‡
2008Netherlands U214(3)
2013–Netherlands8(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 February 2014 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2013

Jonathan Alexander de Guzmán (born 13 September 1987) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for Swansea City, on loan from Villarreal CF, as an attacking midfielder.

De Guzmán was Canadian born, but made himself available for the Netherlands after he gained Dutch citizenship in 2008. He was capped four times for the Netherlands U21, scoring three goals and was active on the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. De Guzmán progressed through the Feyenoord Academy, making his first team debut in 2005 and has played over 100 matches for the club from Rotterdam. In the summer of 2010 de Guzmán signed a three-year contract with RCD Mallorca following a free transfer. The following summer he was purchased by Villarreal.

De Guzmán is also known for being a free-kick specialist.

Early life

De Guzmán was born in Scarborough, Ontario and is of Jamaican and Filipino descent.[2] His father Bobby, from the Philippines, and mother Pauline, from Jamaica, came to Canada when they were ten years old and have three children; a daughter Jenelle and the two sons Jonathan and Julian.[3] De Guzmán's older brother, Julian de Guzmán, is also a professional football player, who currently plays for Skoda Xanthi F.C. De Guzmán's childhood was completely focused on football. His father first wanted his sons to play basketball, but due to the brothers short height, they started to focus on other sports. Once they started playing football, the brothers fell in love with the sport completely: "After school, all we did was playing football. That was pretty unusual in Canada, because almost nobody of our age did it. Canada is not a football country, we were exceptions."[4]

Career

Youth career

De Guzmán started his youth career at North Scarborough Soccer Club in Canada. To improve his skills, the youngster trained six times a week and was active in three different teams (North Scarborough, Malvern, and the team of his older brother). When his brother Julian left Canada to join Olympique Marseille's youth academy, De Guzmán's urge to also pursue his career in Europe grew strongly. At the age of 12, two years after his brother went to France, he joined the Feyenoord youth academy in the Netherlands.[4]

Feyenoord

The rise

De Guzmán was not allowed to play for Feyenoord's first team before he was 18 years old. On 15 September 2005, three days after turning 18, De Guzmán was part of Feyenoord's first team squad for the first time. However, he remained on the bench in the UEFA Cup home match against Rapid Bucharest (1–1).[5] Three days later, on 18 September 2005, De Guzmán made his official Feyenoord debut in the Eredivisie home match against SC Heerenveen (5–1). He replaced Ghaly in the 87th minute.[6] De Guzmán scored his first professional goal on 30 September 2005, in the Eredivisie away match against Willem II (1–3).[7]

After his debut against SC Heerenveen, De Guzmán quickly became a first team regular. On 11 December 2005, he received much praise after outplaying former Barcelona player Philip Cocu in a midfield battle at Feyenoord's Eredivisie home match win against PSV (1–0).[8] De Guzmán finished the Eredivisie season 2005–06 with 29 matches, scoring 4 goals. On 29 December 2005, he signed an improved contract with Feyenoord until summer 2010. His old contract was set to expire in 2008.[9]

First difficulties

At the beginning of the season 2006–07, Feyenoord sold their star players Dirk Kuyt to Liverpool and Salomon Kalou to Chelsea. The management had high expectations of De Guzmán, who was ready to make the next step in his development.[10] However, the youngster couldn't prevent the club from finishing on a 7th Eredivisie place. De Guzmán's disappointing season ended with a red card in the 21st minute of the first playoff match against FC Groningen on 10 May 2007.[11] Feyenoord lost the double confrontation and missed out on European football for the first time in 16 years. At the end of the season, De Guzmán acknowledged there was perhaps too much pressure on him: "I was only 19 years old, I couldn't just tell everyone what to do. It was really a disappointing season. I didn't make progress as a football player, but I did grow mentally because of all the problems we had. It was a very tough season for me personally."[10]

Jonathan de Guzmán after the first Feyenoord training of the season 2007–08

With the 2007–08 arrival of experienced players like Giovanni van Bronckhorst from Barcelona and Roy Makaay from Bayern Munich, Feyenoord created the perfect circumstances for De Guzmán. The pressure on the youngster was taken away, however De Guzmán wasn't too happy with his new position in the team. Where De Guzmán always played as a midfielder, new manager Bert van Marwijk placed him on the right wing position in a 4–2–3–1 system.[12] De Guzmán played 33 Eredivisie matches, scoring nine goals.

Injuries

De Guzmán had a personal agreement with Manchester City, but Feyenoord couldn't agree on a transfer fee with the Citizens: "I was really sure I was going to leave Rotterdam. It didn't happen because of Feyenoord. I already said yes and I thought it was a nice transfer fee (allegedly 10 million euro, red.). But the clubs couldn't come to an agreement and not much later City bought another player, Shaun Wright-Phillips."[13]

Despite a turbulent pre-season full of transfer speculations, De Guzmán remained at Feyenoord. However, De Guzmán also had a disappointing start to the season, as he was sent off in Feyenoord's season opening Eredivisie match. On 31 August 2008, De Guzmán received a red card for a flying elbow in the 30th minute in the away match against Heracles Almelo (3–1), resulting in a suspension of four matches.[14] Not much later, De Guzmán started having physical problems. What started with minor groin, thigh and knee injuries, ended with an serious meniscus surgery in January 2009.[15] De Guzmán was out for the rest of the season. Due to his injuries, De Guzmán only played two Eredivisie matches in the season 2008–09.

De Guzmán made his comeback in the 2009–10 pre-season friendly away match against Sporting Portugal (1–2), scoring the equalizer.[16] Due to his expiring contract, Feyenoord was keen to sell their youth product in the summer. However, new Feyenoord manager Mario Been wanted De Guzmán to stay. He stated De Guzmán was an important player for the team and was willing to let him play on his favorite central playmaker position.[13] Despite interest from Chelsea[17] and Valencia,[18] De Guzmán stayed at Feyenoord. After a promising start of the season, scoring three goals in his first nine matches, injuries kept following the midfielder. On 3 October 2009, De Guzmán was subs cartilage in the right knee, needed surgical intervention and was out for over two months.[19] De Guzmán made his comeback after the winter break, but after playing four more matches, he had to leave a training session injured on 4 March 2010. He was struck by the same injury as he had earlier this season, only this time on his left knee.[20] De Guzmán made his final comeback in Feyenoord's last match of the season. However, De Guzmán couldn't prevent Feyenoord losing the KNVB Cup final against arch rivals Ajax (1–4) on 6 May 2010, and left the club on a free transfer: "For me personally it's nice that I am fit again and still could get some playing time during the finals, but the result is very disappointing obviously. It's very sad I have to leave Feyenoord this way."[21]

Mallorca

With De Guzmán available on a free transfer, he gained offers from Espanyol, PSV Eindhoven and Villarreal but preferred a move to the Premier League with Newcastle also interested.[22] Instead, on 27 July 2010, De Guzmán signed a three-year contract with Mallorca. He cited the amount of faith shown in him from club owner Lorenzo Serra Ferrer and manager Michael Laudrup for making the move, in spite of the club being expelled from the UEFA Europa League due to financial reasons.[23] De Guzmán made his debut for the club and performed brilliantly in a 0–0 draw against Real Madrid 29 August 2010. Three weeks later De Guzmán scored his first goal in La Liga in a 2–0 home win vs. Osasuna. On 18 December 2010 De Guzmán scored a stunning goal out of nowhere to tie up the game in the 28th minute against Villarreal; the game finished in a 3–1 Villarreal victory.[24] De Guzmán had a very strong first season in Spain although his team finished in 17th place one out of relegation. De Guzmán made 33 league starts while scoring 5 goals, including one in the last game of the season against Atlético Madrid in a 4–3 loss in which Sergio Agüero scored a hat-trick.[25]

After a summer filled with speculation on De Guzmán transferring to Villarreal, Jonathan played in Mallorca's first game of the season on 28 August 2011 against Espanyol, scoring the lone goal in a 10 home victory over the Catalonia team.[26]

Villarreal

On 31 August 2011, hours before the transfer deadline Villarreal completed a transfer for De Guzmán, the deal was for an undisclosed fee believed to be worth around €8.5 million.[27] De Guzmán made his debut on 10 September as a second half sub for Javier Camuñas during a 2–2 home draw against Sevilla.[28] Days later De Guzmán made his return to European competition since his move to Spain on 14 September against Bayern Munich in a 2–0 defeat in the first game of the UEFA Champions League group stage.[29] De Guzmán scored his first goal for Villarreal on 22 November against Bayern Munich, the game ended in a 3–1 away defeat in the second last match in the Champions League group stage.[30] After receiving consistent playing time after joining the club in both league and domestic play De Guzmán began to struggle to find playing time under newly hired manager José Francisco Molina in early 2012, and rumors started about a potential move back to the Eredivisie.[31]

Swansea City (loan)

On 10 July 2012, de Guzmán completed a move to Swansea City on loan thus being reunited with former coach Michael Laudrup.[32] He made his début against Queens Park Rangers in a 5–0 win at Loftus Road. He scored his first goal for Swansea in a 3–1 League Cup win over Liverpool at Anfield on 31 October 2012.[33] De Guzmán scored his first goal in the Premier League and for Swansea on 17 November against Newcastle United, the game ended in a 2–1 away victory for the Swans. De Guzmán's second league goal for Swansea came in a 2–1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage on 29 December, scoring the winning goal for the away side.[34]

De Guzmán netted two goals against Stoke City as they won 3–1, his first was from a wonderful free-kick and his second came off of an assist from Danny Graham.[35] He scored another brace in Swansea's 5–0 Capital One Cup Final defeat of Bradford City at Wembley on 24 February 2013, guiding the Swans to their first ever major piece of silverware.[36] Following a successful debut campaign in the Premier League, de Guzmán was awarded the Swansea Goal of the Season for his strike against Stoke City on 19 January.[37]

On 29 June 2013, de Guzmán agreed to a second year season long loan at Swansea.[38] On 19 September 2013, he scored a 30-yard free-kick for his first goal of the season as Swansea began their Europa League campaign with a memorable 3–0 win at Valencia.[39]

International career

Jonathan de Guzmán during a training of the Netherlands U21 in 2008

After much speculation on which country De Guzmán would choose to represent internationally, De Guzmán made himself available for selection by the Dutch national team, immediately after receiving his Dutch citizenship in February 2008, having applied for it the previous year. His decision was met with disappointment in Canada. Controversially, De Guzmán appeared on a nationally televised Canadian sports show a week before this announcement and claimed that he had not made up his mind on his international status, and was focusing on his club career in the Netherlands. His brother Julian does play for the Canadian national team.

After failing to make the final cut in a senior call up, De Guzmán made his international debut for the Netherlands U21 squad on 26 March 2008, in a European Championship qualification match against Estonia U21. He played a significant role, scoring the first and third goal and providing the assist for the second in a 3–0 victory. He was later named in the Netherlands squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[40]

In 2011, De Guzmán expressed interest to play alongside brother Julian de Guzman for the Canadian team. However in 2012, De Guzmán gave an interview to The Score TV stating that he was dedicated to the Dutch national team and hoped he would be called up after the completion of Euro 2012.[41]

On 23 January 2013, De Guzmán was called up to the Netherlands provisional squad to play in a friendly against Italy and made his debut in the 46th minute of the game.[42][43] On 6 March, Louis van Gaal included De Guzmán in his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifying matches against Estonia and Romania to be held at the Amsterdam Arena in late March.[44]

Career statistics

As of 26 February 2013
Club performance League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Netherlands League KNVB Cup Europe Total
2005–06FeyenoordEredivisie2941010314
2006–073271061398
2007–0833962—3911
2008–0920001030
2009–1013320—153
Spain League Copa del Rey Europe Total
2010–11MallorcaLa Liga33521—356
2011–1211——11
2011–12Villarreal2001061271
England League FA Cup/League Cup Europe Total
2012–13Swansea City (loan)Premier League3758*3*—458
2013–141812091292
Total Netherlands 109231028112726
Spain 5463161638
Wales 556103917410
Career total 2183523623326444

Honours

Feyenoord
Swansea City

References

  1. ↑ "Premier League Clubs submit Squad Lists" (PDF). Premier League. 1 February 2013. p. 33. Retrieved 24 June 2013. 
  2. ↑ "Notable Filipino Canadians". NotableFilipinos.com. Retrieved 15 June 2009. 
  3. ↑ "The Last Word". Toronto Sun. 23 April 2006. Retrieved 5 October 2009. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Jonathan De Guzmán". Kameraadjes (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 October 2009. 
  5. ↑ "Feyenoord – Rapid Boekarest 1–1". Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 15 September 2005. Retrieved 4 October 2009. 
  6. ↑ "Feyenoord – Heerenveen 5–1". Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 18 September 2005. Retrieved 4 October 2009. 
  7. ↑ "Willem II – Feyenoord 1–3". Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 30 September 2005. Retrieved 4 October 2009. 
  8. ↑ "De Guzman catches the eye". Sky Sports. 12 December 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2009. 
  9. ↑ "Jonathan de Guzman langer bij Feyenoord" [Jonathan de Guzman remains at Feyenoord]. Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 29 December 2005. Retrieved 4 October 2009. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "De Guzman: "Voetballend heb ik een jaar stilgestaan"" [De Guzman: "Football-wise, I stood still for one year"]. FCUpdate.nl (in Dutch). 9 July 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2009. 
  11. ↑ "Tiental Feyenoorders houdt schade beperkt" [Ten Feyenoorders keep damage limited]. Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 10 May 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2009. 
  12. ↑ "De Guzmán aast, net als Feyenoord, op eerherstel" [De Guzman wants, just like Feyenoord, rehabilitation]. BN De Stem (in Dutch). 29 July 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2009. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "De Guzman: Er zat agressie in mijn lijf" [De Guzman: There was aggression in my body]. AD (in Dutch). 17 July 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2009. 
  14. ↑ "Valse competitiestart in Almelo: 3–1" [Bad start of the league in Almelo: 3–1]. Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 31 August 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2009. 
  15. ↑ "De Guzman begin januari onder het mes" [Surgery for de Guzman beginning of January]. Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 26 December 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2009. 
  16. ↑ "Gedreven Feyenoord verslaat topclub Sporting" [Driven Feyenoord beats top club Sporting]. Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 18 July 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2009. 
  17. ↑ Telegraph staff (27 August 2009). "Chelsea target Jonathan de Guzman". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 6 October 2009. 
  18. ↑ "Feyenoord's Jonathan De Guzman on Valencia Radar". Goal.com. 25 August 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2009. 
  19. ↑ "Tegenvaller voor Jonathan de Guzman" [Setback for Jonathan de Guzman]. Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 8 October 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2010. 
  20. ↑ "Tegenslag voor De Guzman" [Setback for De Guzman]. Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 9 March 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2010. 
  21. ↑ "Gemengde gevoelens voor vertrekkende De Guzman" [Mixed feelings for leaving De Guzman]. Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 7 May 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2010. 
  22. ↑ "Toon to make Jon de new man". The Sun (England). 8 July 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010. 
  23. ↑ "De Guzman makes Mallorca move". Sky Sports. 27 July 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010. 
  24. ↑ "Toon to make Jon de new man". ESPN Soccernet (USA). 18 December 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2011. 
  25. ↑ "Mallorca 3–4 Atletico Madrid: Balearic Islanders survive relegation despite defeat in thriller". Goal.com (USA). 21 May 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2011. 
  26. ↑ "http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1659620.php/Mallorca-beat-Espanyol-Levante-get-draw-in-Getafe". MonsterandCritics.com (USA). 28 August 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2011. 
  27. ↑ "Official: Villarreal sign Jonathan de Guzman from Mallorca". Goal.com (USA). 31 August 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
  28. ↑ "Villarreal v Sevilla preview". SkySports. 9 September 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2013. 
  29. ↑ "Bayern Kroos past Villarreal". SkySports.com (England). 14 September 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2011. 
  30. ↑ "Ribery helps Bayern advance". Eurosport.com (England). 22 November 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011. 
  31. ↑ "De Guzman eyes return to Eredivisie". ESPN Soccernet (United States). 28 March 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
  32. ↑ "Swansea City targets Chico Flores and Jonathan de Guzman: Player profiles". http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk (United Kingdom). 10 July 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012. 
  33. ↑ "Liverpool 1 – 3 Swansea". BBC. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2012. 
  34. ↑ "Swansea recorded their first win in five Premier League games, as Fulham slipped closer to the relegation zone with just two victories in the last three months.". BBC Sport. 29 December 2012. 
  35. ↑ "Two strikes from Jonathan de Guzman and Ben Davies's first goal saw Swansea secure a comprehensive win over Stoke.". BBC Sport. 19 January 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013. 
  36. ↑ "Swansea thrash Bradford in final: Bradford 0–5 Swansea". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 February 2013. 
  37. ↑ "Magic Michu steals the show". Swansea City. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013. 
  38. ↑ "De Guzman is back Dutch midfielder agrees new Swans loan deal". Swansea City. Retrieved 29 June 2013. 
  39. ↑ "Goal of the day: Jonathan de Guzmán (Swansea) vs Valencia". inside World Soccer. 20 September 2013. 
  40. ↑ "De Guzman dazzles on debut". UEFA.com. 26 March 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2009. 
  41. ↑ "Jonathan de Guzman remains committed to the Netherlands". TheScoreTV. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012. 
  42. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2266989/Robin-van-Persie-joined-Swanseas-Jonathan-Guzman-Holland-squad.html
  43. ↑ http://www.goal.com/en/match/101426/netherlands-vs-italy/play-by-play
  44. ↑ "Van Gaal recalls Sneijder, three new faces". ESPNFC. 6 March 2013. 
  45. ↑ "Football League Statistics". The Football League. Retrieved 21 March 2013. 

External links

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