A few days ago Dutch forward Luuk de Jong completed a switch from German club Borussia Monchengladbach to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven for a fee around £4.800.000. This transfer came after de Jong's abysmal season in which he failed to score a single goal and created just one assist in 26 matches. This included his loan to Newcastle United, where he played 12 matches before returning to Germany. This was his second post-Eredivisie season, and although his first one was better, it was still below par. De Jong scored eight and assisted four for Gladbach in 31 appearances. His move back to Eredivisie is an attempt to restart a stagnant career, and play the football that caught the eyes of Gladbach and the Netherlands national team coach once again.
Back in his Eredivisie days, de Jong was a goal machine at FC Twente. Two 20+ goal seasons at age 20 and 21 saw him come second in the scoring charts in 2012. Far from a one-dimensional centre-foward, Luuk de Jong not only scored goals- he created them as well. Seen as more of a trequartista than an out-and-out striker, de Jong frightened defenses not just with his scoring ability, but with his vision and knack for picking out players perfectly. For each of his double figure scoring seasons in the Eredivisie, he was in double digits for assists as well.
His two great back to back campaigns in 10/11 and 11/12 saw him switch Twente for Monchenglabach in a deal worth £10.6 million. It was all downhill from there. Limited minutes and a rough time adjusting to the physicality of the German league saw Luuk de Jong stumble and then fall flat on his face. A player once touted as the future of the Dutch attack now was a Bundesliga flop and a "joke of a striker". Although it should be noted that he was not helped much this past campaign by Gladbach or Newcastle- he played a total of 85 minutes in the first half of the season in Germany, and only played 3/5 of the possible minutes for Newcastle, coming on as a sub almost every match of the 13/14 season. Now back in his home county, this could be Luuk's last chance to make something of his career, or be forever added to the list of Eredivisie stars that simply couldn't make it anywhere else.
It won't be easy for de Jong though. At PSV he will have to take on the pressure of being the lone striker for a club whose last chance to make a convincing run at the title could be this season. With Jurgen Locadia out an undetermined amount of time with groin injury, de Jong will be tasked with banging in all the goals for the Eindhoven club. He'll be playing in front of a trio of players that seem primed to leave PSV, and will have to try and find a balance with them. Depay, Wijnaldum, and Narsingh will surely provide de Jong with a lot of assistance in front of goal, but they will also be trying to showcase their skills before the transfer season. It is a balance between the individual and the team that will see PSV capture the league title, and Luuk de Jong recapture his long-lost form.