Nigel de Jong

Nigel de Jong (; born 30 November 1984) is a Dutch professional footballer. He is a midfielder for Italian Serie A club Milan and the Dutch national team. He joined the Ajax youth academy when he was young and made the first team at age 17.

De Jong moved from Ajax in 2006 to join Hamburg. He then moved to Manchester City in January 2009 for around £18 million. He became an important part of Manchester City's midfield. He has earned a reputation of being combative and feisty player. This got him nicknames like "The Terrier" and "Lawnmower". He moved to Italian club Milan in August 2012.

Club career

Ajax
On 19 October 2002, de Jong played for the Ajax first team for the first time. He scored his first goal on 18 February 2003 in a 1–1 draw against Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League. He started playing in the first team often in the next season. In this season, Ajax won the Eredivisie. In 2004–05, de Jong was named Ajax Player of the Season. Later, after starting in midfield for quite a while, he found himself sitting on the bench more often than being one of the players at the start of a match. On 7 December 2005, it was announced that de Jong did not want to stay with Ajax. His contract with Ajax was due to finish in July 2006.

Hamburg
On 26 January 2006, de Jong signed a four and a half year contract at German Bundesliga club Hamburg. He moved there for about €1 million. He played for Hamburg for the first time two days later. In the match, Hamburg lost 2–1 to Nuremberg. In March 2006, de Jong scored the winning goal in Bayern Munich's first ever loss at the Allianz Arena. The week after, he got his first red card in a UEFA Cup match against Rapid Bucharest. He had to stop playing in April because he needed surgery on a knee problem. The injury also meant that he could not play for the Netherlands at the 2006 World Cup. However, after becoming fit again, he was put on standby.

Manchester City

On 21 January 2009, de Jong moved to Manchester City for around £18 million. He signed a four-and-a-half year contract. He played for the first time against Newcastle United on 28 January 2009.  He played sixteen times in the Premier League.

De Jong was in the starting team against Arsenal on 12 September 2009. He was given Man of the Match by Sky Sports after Manchester City won 2-1 over Chelsea on 5 December 2009.  By the end of the season, the fans liked him. He was one of Roberto Mancini's first picks as defensive midfielder as the team just missed out on the Champions League. De Jong scored his first goal for Manchester City when they won 2-1 against West Ham United on 1 May 2011.

Milan
On 31 August 2012, de Jong joined Italian Serie A club Milan. He signed a three-year contract.

International career
On 31 March 2004, de Jong played his first game with the Netherlands in a friendly against France. He was not picked to play in UEFA Euro 2004. He missed the 2006 FIFA World Cup because his knee was injured.

He scored his first goal for the Netherlands against Iceland on 6 June 2009 in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match. This match made the Netherlands go through to the 2010 World Cup.

De Jong was part of the Dutch team for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was one of the starting players for their first match in the competition. In this match, they won 2–0 against Denmark. He was not allowed to play in the semi final against Uruguay because he got his second yellow card in a match against Brazil. He played in the Final, where the Netherlands lost 1–0 to Spain.

Career statistics

Personal life 
De Jong is married to Winonah. He has two children. His father is Jerry de Jong.

He owns a car dealership which exists in Europe and the Middle East.

De Jong is addicted to the game Angry Birds. He plays it in the dressing room before games.

Sponsorship
Puma SE sponsor de Jong. The deal began in January 2012.

References

Other websites

  www.transfermarkt.co.uk

1984 births
Living people
A.C. Milan players
2010 FIFA World Cup players
2014 FIFA World Cup players
Dutch footballers
Sportspeople from Amsterdam