Wout François Maria Weghorst (born 7 August 1992) 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 striker for club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, on loan from club

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, and the Netherlands national team. Weghorst began his professional career in the second tier of Dutch football with Emmen. He then played 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 ...

with

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

and AZ, before joining

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

in 2018. After scoring 70 goals in 144 games for Wolfsburg, he was signed by Burnley in January 2022 for a fee of £12 million. After the club were relegated from the Premier League, Weghorst had loan spells at Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

and Manchester United. Weghorst made one appearance for the Netherlands under-21 team in 2014, before making his senior international debut in March 2018. He represented the Netherlands at

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

and the

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 ...

, where he scored two goals in the quarter-final match against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Club career

Early career

Born in Borne, Overijssel, Weghorst started his career at local clubs RKSV NEO and

DETO Twenterand DETO is a Dutch amateur association football club from Vriezenveen, Overijssel. They are currently playing in the Vierde Divisie The Vierde Divisie, formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Nethe ...

, before joining

club Willem II in 2011. Despite having the opportunity to make his way into the first-team, he never broke through, and only featured for the reserve team. He signed for

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 ...

club Emmen in 2012. He made his debut on 10 August 2012, in a match against

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

which ended 1–1. Weghorst would go on the score his first goal in professional football a month later, in the derby against

Veendam Veendam () is a town and municipality with a population of 27,752 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Veendam was established in 1648 as a peat colony by Adriaan Geerts Wildervanck. A Holland America Line cruise ship ...

, a match that ended in a 2–1 win for Emmen. He managed to play in 28 league matches in his debut season, scoring 8 goals. After his spell with Emmen, Weghorst signed a contract with Eredivisie club

on a free transfer. On 9 August, Weghorst made his Eredivisie debut for Heracles Almelo, in a 0–3 home loss against AZ in the

Polman Stadion Erve Asito, formerly the Polman Stadion, is a multi-use stadium in Almelo, Netherlands. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium has a capacity of 12.080 spectators and was built in 1999. It is the official stadium of Eredivis ...

. He was a regular starter in his two years in Almelo. In the first season the club battled relegation from the Eredivisie, but his second season was more successful with Heracles ending in the sixth spot and, through the subsequent

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, the club qualified for the Europa League qualifying round – the first time in Heracles Almelo history that the club qualified for an international competition.

AZ

After the successful season with Heracles, Weghorst signed a four-year contract with AZ in July 2016, with the option for an extra year. On 24 November 2016 he scored his first European goal which proved to be the winning goal in a 0–1 win in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

group match against Irish team

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

. He was appointed ahead of the season as

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the re ...

Ron Vlaar Ron Peter Vlaar (born 16 February 1985) is a Dutch former Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back. Vlaar came up through AZ Alkmaar, AZ's youth ranks. After making his professiona ...

. Weghorst started the 2017–18 season with good form, displayed by 7 goals in his first 13 starts. He continued that form and after scoring 20 goals in 29 appearances in all competitions, he earned his first full international call-up in Ronald Koeman's first

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

squad in March 2018. He finished the season joint third top scorer in the Eredivisie with 18 goals with

Steven Berghuis Steven Berghuis (born 19 December 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for Eredivisie club Ajax and the Netherlands national team. He can play as either a winger or attacking midfielder. Berghuis made his debut for the Netherland ...

, both behind top scorer

Alireza Jahanbakhsh Alireza Jahanbakhsh Jirandeh ( fa, علیرضا جهانبخش جیرنده, ; born 11 August 1993) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a winger and attacking midfielder for Eredivisie club Feyenoord and the Iran national team. He ...

(with 21) and runner up Bjørn Johnsen (with 19). Weghorst also had six assists.

VfL Wolfsburg

On 26 June 2018, Weghorst signed a four-year contract with

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

. On 16 March 2019, he scored his first hat-trick for Wolfsburg, and first by any player for the club since

Mario Gómez Mario Gómez García (; born 10 July 1985) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented the Germany national team over a period of 11 years between 2007 and 2018. Gómez began his professional career with ...

in April 2017, in a 5–2 league win over

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

. He finished his first season in Germany with 17 goals, ranking joint-third in the Bundesliga goalscoring charts for the 2018–19 campaign. In the 2019–20 season, Weghorst produced another impressive goal return, scoring 16 times in the league as Wolfsburg finished 6th. Weghorst scored twice in the

2020–21 Europa League 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 ...

qualifying rounds, but Wolfsburg ultimately failed to qualify for the group stage, losing to Greek team

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

in the playoff round.

Burnley

On 31 January 2022, Weghorst signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with English

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 ...

club

for a fee of £12 million. Weghorst made his debut for the club on 5 February, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 draw with

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional football ...

. Weghorst scored his first goal for the club on 19 February in a 3–0 win against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, helping to end an eleven game winless run for his new club. His second Burnley goal came on 17 April, in a 1–1 draw against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

Loans to Beşiktaş and Manchester United

On 5 July 2022, Weghorst signed for

club

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

until the end of the 2022–23 season. He made his Süper Lig debut on 6 August in a 1–0 home win against

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fini ...

. He scored his first league goal on 21 August, with the opening goal against

Fatih Karagümrük Fatih () is a district of and a municipality (''belediye'') in Istanbul, Turkey, and home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the governor's office, police headquarters, metropolitan municipality and tax office) but not the co ...

in a 4–1 win for Beşiktaş. On 7 January 2023, he scored a goal in his last match for Beşiktaş which ended in a 2–1 victory over Kasımpaşa. His loan to Beşiktaş was cancelled in January ahead of a loan to

, with a £3 million loan fee being split between Burnley and Beşiktaş. On 13 January, Weghorst signed for United on loan until the end of the season. He was given the number 27 shirt most recently worn by

Alex Telles Alex Nicolao Telles (; born 15 December 1992) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for La Liga club Sevilla, on loan from Premier League club Manchester United, and the Brazil national team. Telles started his caree ...

. On 18 January, he made his debut by starting in a 1–1 away draw against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

. On 25 January, he scored his first goal for United in a 3–0 away win over

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in 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 ...

semi-final first leg. On 26 February, he played in the 2023 EFL Cup final and assisted

Marcus Rashford Marcus Rashford (born 31 October 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Manchester United and the England national team. Considered one of the best players in the world, he is known for his explosive ath ...

for United's second goal of the match in their 2–0 victory over

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. It was the first time in his career that he had won a trophy. On 9 March, he scored his first goal at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

in a 4–1 win against

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

round of 16.

International career

Weghorst made his debut for the Netherlands under-21 team on 14 October 2014, scoring against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in a 5–4 defeat. This was his only appearance for the under-21 team. He earned his first full international call-up in

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 ...

's first Dutch squad in March 2018. He made his senior international debut in a friendly against

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 ...

on 23 March at the

Amsterdam Arena The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...

. Weghorst was selected in the Netherlands squad for

, and scored against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in their opening group game. In November 2022, Weghorst was chosen as a member of the Dutch squad for the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international 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; it is the first Wo ...

in Qatar. In the quarter-final match against

, he came on as a late substitute and scored two goals, with the equaliser being scored in the 11th minute of added time from a free-kick routine similar to a goal with Wolfsburg against

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

in 2020, to draw the game at 2–2 and send it into extra time and an eventual penalty shootout. Despite scoring his penalty, the Netherlands were eliminated as they lost 4–3 in the shootout.

Style of play

At , Weghorst commonly plays as a striker, in particular a 'target man' role, due to his aerial dominance and ability to hold up the play. He is renowned as a

goal poacher Association football (more commonly known as football) was first codified in 1863 in England, although games that involved the kicking of a ball were evident considerably earlier.

, with good reactive finishing inside the penalty area, but also regularly drops deep to help link play. In the

2021–22 Premier League The 2021–22 Premier League was the 30th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1992, and the 123rd season of top-flight English football overall. The start a ...

season, Weghorst averaged more presses per 90 minutes than any other player. His style of play has been compared to that of

Edin Džeko Edin Džeko (; born 17 March 1986) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Inter Milan and captains the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Džeko was named Bosnian Footballer of the Year for three years in a ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Netherlands score listed first, score column indicates score after each Weghorst goal.''

Honours

Manchester United *

2022–23 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 ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: runner-up:

References

External links

Profile
at the Beşiktaş J.K. website
Profile
at the Royal Dutch Football Association website (in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Weghorst, Wout 1992 births Living people People from Borne, Overijssel Footballers from Overijssel Dutch footballers Men's association football forwards DETO Twenterand players Willem II (football club) players FC Emmen players Heracles Almelo players AZ Alkmaar players VfL Wolfsburg players Burnley F.C. players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Manchester United F.C. players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Bundesliga players Premier League players Süper Lig players Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Turkey Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Turkey