Wout Weghorst will be back on the Dutch pitches next season. Not in the red-white-red of FC Emmen, where he started his career, but in the white-red-white of Ajax.
The club and player have reached an agreement on a contract until the summer of 2026. Only the medical examination can still throw a spanner in the works. Weghorst comes over from the English Burnley. The striker reportedly costs around 2.5 million euros.
Weghorst’s transfer to Ajax was long in coming, due to financial problems at the Amsterdam club. Due to the imminent departure of Silvano Vos from Ajax to AC Milan, the Amsterdam club now has the space to make Weghorst’s arrival permanent.
The career of Wout Weghorst can be called downright miraculous. In 2012, his dream, a life as a professional footballer, seemed far away. The almost two-meter tall striker played for a season in the second team of Willem II, but did not break through. Only FC Emmen sees potential in the man from Borne. Trainer Joop Gall is impressed by his intrinsic motivation and the energy he puts into a match.
“Weghorst had trouble controlling a ball. But he was about 19 or 20 years old and I thought: I dare to do it with him”, Gall looks back last year. Roland Bergkamp was the first striker at FC Emmen at that time. Weghorst mainly sits on the bench. In 62 matches, mainly as a substitute, he scores twenty times. After two seasons he leaves, to Eredivisie club Heracles.
From then on, Weghorst’s development goes fast. After two seasons and 22 goals in Almelo, he moves to AZ, where he scores again. The reward is a top transfer to the Bundesliga, to Vfl Wolfsburg. Here he scores an average of once every two games. The name Weghorst is there. But a transfer to the English Premier League club Burnley is not a success. He is loaned to Besiktas and Manchester United, to return to the Bundesliga last season at Hoffenheim.
His goal average never again reaches the level of his Wolfsburg period. But during the European Championship last summer he confirmed his status as a goal scorer once again. During the first group match against Poland he comes on in the 81st minute. 137 seconds later he scores the winning goal.
