Wesley Sneijder

Wesley Sneijder (born June 9, 1984, in Utrecht (city), Netherlands) is a Netherlands Association football Midfielder (association football). Wesley Sneijder has played for AFC Ajax and currently plays for Real Madrid. Wesley Sneijder is a regular player for the Netherlands national football team, in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and at two UEFA European Football Championship (UEFA Euro 2008 and UEFA Euro 2004).

Early life

Wesley Sneijder was born on June 9, 1984 in Utrecht (city) into a football family: Wesley Sneijder father was a player, Wesley Sneijder older brother Jeffrey Sneijder played for Stormvogels Telstar and Wesley Sneijder younger brother Rodney plays for the youth academy of Ajax.

Club career

Ajax

Although Sneijder was not born in Amsterdam, Wesley Sneijder started Wesley Sneijder career in the AFC Ajax's famous youth academy. Wesley Sneijder made Wesley Sneijder debut for Ajax in a 2-0 win at SBV Excelsior on December 22, 2002 when manager Ronald Koeman, troubled by an injury-filled squad called Wesley Sneijder up, advised by Danny Blind, the then-coach of the Ajax youth-squad. Wesley Sneijder rapidly established himself in the role of midfield general and occasional left winger. Despite Wesley Sneijder short height, Wesley Sneijder is quick, strong on the ball and Wesley Sneijder passing range is enhanced by Wesley Sneijder ambidexterity. Wesley Sneijder is also considered to be a dead-ball specialist.

Real Madrid

On August 12, 2007, Ajax agreed to sell Sneijder to Real Madrid for Euro27 million, according to the club's web-site, making Wesley Sneijder the Dutch football transfer record Dutch football player. Wesley Sneijder was the second of three Dutchmen to sign for Real Madrid for the 2007 season joining Royston Drenthe and later Arjen Robben. Wesley Sneijder also was given the number 23 which was worn by David Beckham for four full seasons at Real Madrid C.F..

In Wesley Sneijder first La Liga match for Real Madrid Wesley Sneijder scored the winner in the Madrid derby against Atlético Madrid. On the second matchday, Wesley Sneijder scored two goals against Villarreal CF, one of them on a direct free-kick.

Sneijder capped a fine first season in Spain by hitting a stunning free kick in the last game of the season against Levante UD at the Bernabeu and taking Wesley Sneijder goal tally to 9 in La Liga in a season which also saw Real retain their title.

On August 3, 2008 Sneijder was stretchered off in the pre-season friendly at Arsenal F.C. with a suspected cruciate ligament injury after a collision with Abou Diaby. Sneijder had an MRI which confirmed the extent of the injury to be not as bad as first feared. It is expected that Wesley Sneijder will be out for at least 3 months. However, Wesley Sneijder managed to recover in time and was included in the starting eleven for the UEFA Champions League 2008-2009 clash against Juventus at Turin.

On September 2, 2008 AS reported that after Robinho's departure to Manchester City for €42m Wesley Sneijder is Real Madrid's new number 10.. One day later Real Madrid confirmed on their web site Sneijder's new number. Wesley Sneijder previous number 23 was taken over by Wesley Sneijder fellow Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart whose preferred number is 23.

Dutch magazine Voetbal International conducted a poll to decide who was the best Dutch free-kick taker. Sneijder received an overwhelming 70% of the votes while Arsenal's Robin van Persie came second with 21% and then Ajax and currently Real Madrid striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was third with 3% of the votes.

International career

Sneijder debuted with the Netherlands Under-21 side against Czech Republic national football team on March 28, 2003. Wesley Sneijder first game with the Dutch national team was against Portugal national football team on April 30 that same year, when Wesley Sneijder became the eighth youngest man to play for the Netherlands in the first team’s history.

Euro 2004

Sneijder reached the UEFA Euro 2004 semifinals with the Netherlands. Wesley Sneijder began the competition mainly on the bench, and was subbed into two group stage matches. Wesley Sneijder had also contributed two goals in the UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying.

World Cup 2006

Sneijder started all four games for the Netherlands at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Wesley Sneijder received one of the record sixteen yellow cards doled out during the infamous Round of 16 clash with Portugal ("Battle of Nuremberg"); Portugal went on to win 1-0.

Euro 2008

In the build-up to Euro 2008, Sneijder scored a free kick in a friendly against Wales national football team on May 31, making it Wesley Sneijder second strike from a direct free kick in a row. The game ended 2-0 with goals from Real Madrid C.F. pair, Arjen Robben and Sneijder.

Sneijder marked Wesley Sneijder 24th birthday in style by scoring one of the goals of the tournament; the second goal in the 31st minute of the Euro 2008 match against the World Cup Champion, Italy national football team. Following Giovanni van Bronckhorst's goal-line clearance and subsequent run into the Italian half, Sneijder received a headed ball from Dirk Kuyt and volleyed it with an acrobatic strike past Gianluigi Buffon. This brought the score to 2-0 after Ruud van Nistelrooy's opener five minutes previous. The match finished with a 3-0 victory to the Dutch after a third goal was scored by Giovanni van Bronkhorst after another run by Wesley Sneijder following a crucial save from Edwin van der Sar. Sneijder's second goal contributed to the Netherlands first victory over Italy in thirty years which was the biggest defeat Italy had suffered since Sweden national football team beat them by the same margin in 1983. Many fans and pundits agreed that this goal was one of the best of the tournament. On June 13, Wesley Sneijder scored another goal for Holland in the Euro 2008 group stage match against France national football team in the 92nd minute from outside the box finishing the ball in the corner of the net bouncing off the crossbar on its way in. The match finished 4-1 for Holland. Although the Dutch lost to the Russia national football team in the quarter-final, Sneijder was named in the Team of the Tournament for Wesley Sneijder strong performances.
Spanish newspaper Marca reported that on the 28th july 09 Liverpool had agreed a fee of 16million euros for the dutch attacking midfielder and Wesley Sneijder is due on merseyside for a medical later in the week