Arnaut Danjuma Groeneveld (born 31 January 1997) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a winger for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club Villarreal and the Netherlands national team. After making one substitute appearance for

Jong PSV Jong PSV is a Dutch football team based in Eindhoven. It is the reserve team of PSV Eindhoven and plays in the Eerste Divisie since the 2013–14 season. History Until 2013, Jong PSV played in the Beloften Eredivisie, a league exclusively for ...

in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

, he played for

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

and Eerste Divisie,

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

in the

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

and

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

. He signed for Villarreal for an estimated €25 million in 2021. Born in Nigeria and raised mainly in the Netherlands, Danjuma earned his first cap for the Dutch national team in October 2018. He was recalled to the team three years later.

Club career

Early career

Danjuma was born in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, Nigeria to a Dutch father and a Nigerian mother. After his parents' divorce, he was briefly homeless and spent time in foster care. He joined PSV in 2008 from

TOP Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviati ...

; he made his professional debut for

in the

on 7 December 2015 against NAC, replacing

Moussa Sanoh Moussa Sanoh (born 20 July 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger. Born in the Ivory Coast to Liberian and Guinean parents, and raised in the Netherlands, Sanoh represents the Liberia national team. Club career Jong PSV San ...

after 65 minutes of a 3–0 home loss. In the summer of 2016, Danjuma signed for

where he was expected to play for the second team. On 10 September, he made his debut and first

appearance against his former club PSV; he was an 85th-minute substitute for

Reagy Ofosu Reagy Baah Ofosu (born 20 September 1991) is a German professional footballer who plays as a winger for Liga I club UTA Arad. Career Ofosu became the Slovak champion with Spartak Trnava in 2017–18 season. On 8 January 2023, Ofosu joined Sau ...

in a 4–0 home loss. In 16 appearances in his first season, he scored once to open a 2–0 win at Heerenveen on the final day of the season; the team were relegated through the playoffs.

Club Brugge

In July 2018, Danjuma signed for

. He made his debut on 22 July in the

2018 Belgian Super Cup The 2018 Belgian Super Cup was a football match that took place on 22 July 2018, between the 2017–18 Belgian First Division A winners Club Brugge and Standard Liège, the winners of the 2017–18 Belgian Cup. Club Brugge won the match 2–1. For ...

, helping his team to a 2–1 win over Standard Liège. On 3 October, he scored a goal against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

in a 3–1 loss in the Champions League group stage. In his only full season in the

, he scored five goals, starting with two in a 3–0 home win over

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

on 10 August.

AFC Bournemouth

On 1 August 2019, Danjuma joined

club

for a fee of £13.7 million, signing a long-term contract. He made his debut against Burton Albion in the third round of the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

on 25 September, as a 61st-minute substitute for

Dominic Solanke Dominic Ayodele Solanke-Mitchell (born 14 September 1997), known as Dominic Solanke, is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for side AFC Bournemouth. Solanke started his career with Chelsea, making his first-team debut in ...

in a 2–0 away loss; his first goal was in a 3–2 win against Blackburn Rovers on 12 September 2020. After ten goal contributions in a month, Danjuma was awarded the

Championship Player of the Month The EFL Championship Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in the EFL Championship, the English football league system, second tier of English football. ...

award for April 2021. He was awarded the Bournemouth Player of the Year award after receiving 40% of the supporters' vote, narrowly beating

Asmir Begović Asmir Begović (; born 20 June 1987) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Everton. Begović started his professional career with English club Portsmouth, signing for them in the summer of 2003. After a sequen ...

who had 38% of the vote.

Villarreal

On 19 August 2021, Danjuma joined

club Villarreal for a fee believed to be in the region of €25 million, signing a contract until June 2026. He scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw with reigning league champions

on 29 August, and his first

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

goal in a 2–2 draw against

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

on 14 September. On 19 February 2022, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 league victory over

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

; two months later he contributed both goals of a home win against regional rivals

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Danjuma scored six Champions League goals in his first season at Villarreal. His brace in a 3–2 win at Atalanta on 9 December put the team into the last 16 as group runners-up. On 6 April 2022, he scored the only goal against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

at the

Estadio de la Cerámica Estadio de la Cerámica, formerly and informally called El Madrigal (), is a football stadium in Villarreal, Spain, used since 1923. It is currently the home venue of Villarreal CF of La Liga, the highest football league in Spain. The stadium has ...

in the quarter-finals first leg; he missed the second leg of the semi-final elimination by

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

through a muscle injury.

International career

Danjuma was born in Nigeria to a Dutch father and Nigerian mother, and was eligible for either national team. He was first called up for the Dutch national team by

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

in October 2018. He made his debut on 13 October in a 3–0

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

home win over

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, as a 68th-minute substitute for former Jong PSV teammate

Steven Bergwijn Steven Charles Bergwijn (born 8 October 1997) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a winger for Eredivisie club Ajax and the Netherlands national team. Club career PSV Bergwijn was born in Amsterdam to parents from Suriname. He sta ...

. Three days later, he scored his first international goal to equalise in a 1–1 friendly draw away to neighbours

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. After nearly three years without a cap, Danjuma returned to the squad as a replacement for

Cody Gakpo Cody Mathès Gakpo (born 7 May 1999) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team. A PSV academy graduate, Gakpo made his first-team debut in February 2018. In the 2021–22 ...

. On 11 October 2021 in a

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

qualifier at home to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, he came off the bench and scored in a 6–0 win. Louis van Gaal did not call him up for the final tournament in Qatar.

Personal life

Arnaut and Danjuma are the player's first names, with him describing the latter as his Nigerian name; he also uses Adam as his Muslim name. Danjuma was raised in Islam but said that he did not become a practising Muslim until he was an adult; he celebrates goals by saying "

Alhamdulillah ''Alhamdulillah'' ( ar, ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ, ') is an Arabic phrase meaning "praise be to God", sometimes translated as "thank God". This phrase is called ''Tahmid'' ( ar, تَحْمِيد, lit=Praising, link=no). A longer varian ...

" (Praise be to God).

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 11 October 2021. Netherlands score listed first, score column indicates score after each Danjuma goal.''

Honours

Club Brugge * Belgian Super Cup:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual *

: April 2021 *

Player of the Year:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

Profile
at the AFC Bournemouth website
Profile
at the Royal Dutch Football Association website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Danjuma, Arnaut 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Lagos Dutch footballers Dutch Muslims Nigerian Muslims Netherlands under-21 international footballers Netherlands international footballers Nigerian footballers Dutch people of Nigerian descent Nigerian people of Dutch descent Association football midfielders PSV Eindhoven players Jong PSV players NEC Nijmegen players Club Brugge KV players AFC Bournemouth players Villarreal CF players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Belgian First Division A players Premier League players English Football League players La Liga players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain