Mitchell Clement Dijks (; born 9 February 1993) is a Dutch 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

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

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 ...

club Vitesse.

Career

Ajax

Born in Purmerend, Dijks was recruited into the youth ranks of then AFC Ajax partner club

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional Association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion ...

in 2009. While playing for the Ajax A1 youth squad in 2011–12, Dijks helped his side to win the Nike Eredivisie league title, as well finishing as runners-up to

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

in the

NextGen Series The NextGen Series was a European football club cup competition for under-19 footballers. It was designed to provide players with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite European footballers of their agegroup in a competitive envi ...

(the Champions League equivalent for under-20 teams) after losing on penalties (5–3) following a 1–1 deadlock after extra time. Dijks made his first team debut on 5 August 2012 against PSV in the

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

in which he played 76 minutes in before being subbed off for

Dico Koppers Dico Koppers (born 31 January 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left back for Ajax Amateurs in the Derde Klasse. Club career Ajax Koppers began his footballing career in Utrecht, playing for the local amateur side SCH'4 ...

and he also received a yellow card. Ajax lost the match 4–2. He then made his league debut with Ajax on 19 August 2012 against

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 ...

, playing 79 minutes before being replaced by

Joël Veltman Joël Ivo Veltman (born 15 January 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Netherlands national team. A product of the Ajax youth academy, Veltman made 246 appeara ...

. The match ended 6–1 in favor of Ajax. Dijks made a total of 6 league appearances playing in the

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

position. playing in a

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

match as well, all while helping Ajax to win the

title in his debut season, making it the team's 32nd Dutch league title overall.

Heerenveen (loan)

For the

2013–14 Eredivisie The 2013–14 Eredivisie was the 58th season of Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. It began on 2 August 2013 with the first match of the season and ended on 18 May 2014 with the returns of the finals of the European competition and rele ...

season, Dijks signed on loan with fellow Dutch top-tier club

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

. On 3 August 2013, in the season opener against AZ, he was sent off in his first match for his new club. He was ejected following a reckless tackle in the 71st minute of the match, which ended a 4–2 victory at the

Abe Lenstra Stadion Abe Lenstra Stadion () is a football stadium, located in Heerenveen, Netherlands. It is currently used mostly as a home ground for Eredivisie club Heerenveen. The current capacity is 27.224. Naming The stadium is named after Abe Lenstra, general ...

Willem II

On 28 August 2014, it was announced that Dijks had signed a two-year contract with

side Willem II.

Return to Ajax

On 26 June 2015, Ajax announced they had re-signed Dijks from Willem II. As part of the deal Ajax youngsters Richairo Zivkovic, Ruben Ligeon and Lesly de Sa will head the other way on loan. On 30 January 2017, Dijks looked to join Norwich City FC on an initial loan deal.

Norwich City (loan)

In January 2017, having lost his position in the starting lineup to

Daley Sinkgraven Daley Sinkgraven (born 4 July 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Bayer Leverkusen. Club career Heerenveen Sinkgraven started playing football with MVV Alcides from his hometown Meppel. He ended up in th ...

under newly appointed manager

Peter Bosz Peter Sylvester Bosz (, born 21 November 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. Playing career Club A midfielder, Bosz started his professional career played with Vitesse in 1981; after a loan season with then amate ...

, Dijks initially turned down a transfer option to play in the

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 ...

for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. He instead agreed upon a loan spell with the Canaries, which would last until the season ended. He scored his first professional goal on 7 February 2017 in a 2–2 away draw against Wigan Athletic with a powerful header in the 73rd minute.

Jong Ajax

Upon his return from Norwich City, Dijks originally trained with the first team, before it was decided that he would spend the rest of the season playing for

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax () (''English: Young Ajax''), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2 is a Dutch association football team, the reserve team of Ajax. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. History Jong Ajax (''formerly more ...

, the reserves team competing in the Dutch

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 ...

, the second tier of professional football in the Netherlands. Jong Ajax would go on to win the second division title that season with Dijks making 3 appearances in total.

Bologna

On 29 April 2018, it was announced that Dijks had signed a contract with

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

team

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

on a free transfer. He scored his first goal for the club on 12 August 2018 in a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

match against

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

. He made his Serie A debut the following week in the home match against

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

, and scored his first goal for the team on 8 April 2019, marking the final score in a 3–0 win over

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

. In the following season, after only five appearances, Dijks suffered an injury to the second toe of his right foot that would keep him sidelined for 5–6 months. On 31 August 2022, his contract with Bologna was terminated by mutual consent.

International career

Youth

Dijks has represented the Netherlands at under-18, under-19, and the under-21 level. He was selected in the final Dutch under-19 squad for the

elite stage In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

of the 2012 Euro U19 qualification. He started and played in the team's first match of the elite stage against Norway U19 and lasted the full 90 while he gained a yellow card in the 54th minute as the Dutch won 2–1. He then played in the Netherlands last match of qualifiers against France U19 coming on a substitute in the 20th minute for Mats van Huijgevoort. The match ended in disaster for Dijks and the Dutch as they lost 6–0 and thus lost out European U19 qualification. On 15 August 2012, Dijks made his debut for the Dutch under-21 team in a friendly against Italy U21, coming on as a 46th-minute substitute for

Johan Kappelhof Johan Kappelhof (born 5 August 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defender. Career Kappelhof was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Whilst being in Ajax's youth academy for 13 years he moved from being a right winger to a defe ...

as the Dutch lost 3–0.

Senior

Dijks received his first call up to the senior Netherlands team in March 2016 for friendlies against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Career statistics

Honours

Ajax A1 (under-19) * A1 Eredivisie: 2011–12 *

Runner-up: 2011–12 Ajax *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

References

External links

Voetbal International profile

Netherlands stats
at OnsOranje {{DEFAULTSORT:Dijks, Mitchell 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Purmerend Men's association football defenders Dutch footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players SC Heerenveen players Willem II (football club) players Norwich City F.C. players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players English Football League players Serie A players Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Footballers from North Holland