Wout Weghorst

Wout François Maria Weghorst (born 7 August 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Burnley 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 with Heracles Almelo and AZ, before joining VfL Wolfsburg 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 club Beşiktaş, fellow English club Manchester United, and German club TSG Hoffenheim.

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 2022 FIFA World Cup (where he notably scored two goals in his side's quarter-final match against Argentina), and Euro 2024.

Early career
Born in Borne, Overijssel, Weghorst started his career at local clubs RKSV NEO and DETO Twenterand, before joining Eredivisie 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 club Emmen in 2012, making his debut in a match against Dordrecht on 10 August. Weghorst went on to score his first goal in professional football a month later, in the derby against Veendam, a match that ended in a 2–1 win for Emmen. In his debut season, Weghorst appeared in 28 league matches scoring eight goals. The following season, he scored 13 times from 36 appearances.

After his spell with Emmen, Weghorst signed a contract with Eredivisie club Heracles Almelo on a free transfer.

On 9 August 2014, Weghorst made his Eredivisie debut for Heracles Almelo, in a 0–3 home loss against AZ in the Polman Stadion. He scored his first Eredivisie goal in his first start – a 2–1 loss against Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena. He ended the 2014–15 Eredivisie season with eight goals from 31 appearances as Heracles successfully battled relegation.

In his second season, Heracles finished in sixth place and, through the subsequent play-offs, the club qualified for the Europa League qualifying round – the first time in history that the club qualified for an international competition. Weghorst was the team's top goalscorer with twelve goals in the Eredivisie.

AZ


After his successful season with Heracles, Weghorst signed a four-year contract with Alkmaar based club AZ in July 2016, with the option for an extra year.

On 7 August, Weghorst marked his debut for AZ with a goal in a 2–2 draw with Heerenveen. On 24 October, he scored his first European goal in a 1–0 UEFA Europa League group win against Irish team Dundalk. On 2 February 2017, he converted the winning kick of the 3–2 penalty shootout win against second division club SC Cambuur in the KNVB semi-final. On 30 April, he started at centre forward in the 2017 KNVB Cup Final, where AZ were beaten 2–0 by Vitesse at De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam.

He ended his first season in Alkmaar with 18 goals from 49 appearances in all competitions.

Ahead of the 2017–18 Eredivisie season, Weghorst was appointed vice-captain to Ron Vlaar. He finished the season as the joint-third top scorer in the Eredivisie with 18 goals, tied with Steven Berghuis, and trailing only Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Bjørn Johnsen, who scored 21 and 19 goals respectively. He also recorded nine goals in six KNVB Cup matches, scoring in every round en route to the final, where AZ were beaten for the second consecutive season, this time by Feyenoord.

VfL Wolfsburg
On 26 June 2018, Weghorst joined German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg, for a reported transfer-fee of €10.5m.

He debuted for Wolfsburg against Schalke 04 in the opening match of the 2018–19 Bundesliga season and scored his first goal on Matchday 2 in a 3–1 win at Bayer Leverkusen. On 16 March 2019, he scored his first hat-trick for Wolfsburg, and first by any player for the club since Mario Gómez in April 2017, in a 5–2 league win over Fortuna Düsseldorf. He ended the season with another hat-trick in the final Bundesliga fixture – an 8–1 win over FC Augsburg – giving him a final total of 17 goals, ranking joint-third in the Bundesliga goalscoring charts for the campaign.

In the 2019–20 Bundesliga season, Weghorst produced another impressive goal return, scoring 16 times in the league.

On 25 October 2020, he scored a goal in a 2–1 victory against Arminia Bielefeld, from a free-kick routine which was later replicated during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In the 2020–21 season, he scored 20 goals in the Bundesliga and 25 times in all competitions, helping die Wölfe to a fourth-placed finish and qualification to the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League.

Weghorst scored six times in the first 20 Matchdays of the 2021–22 Bundesliga season before the club accepted an offer for the player from English club Burnley during the January transfer window.

Burnley
On 31 January 2022, Weghorst signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with English Premier League club Burnley 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 at Turf Moor. Weghorst scored his first goal for the club on 19 February in a 3–0 win against Brighton & Hove Albion, 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.

Burnley ended the 2021–22 season in 18th place, resulting in relegation to the EFL Championship, with Weghorst registering only two goals from 20 appearances.

Loans to Beşiktaş, Manchester United and TSG Hoffenheim
On 5 July 2022, Weghorst signed for Süper Lig club Beşiktaş on loan 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 and scored his first league goal on 21 August, with the opening goal against Fatih Karagümrük 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 Manchester United, 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. On 18 January, he made his debut by starting in a 1–1 away draw against Crystal Palace.

On 25 January, he scored his first goal for United in a 3–0 away win over Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup semi-final first leg. On 26 February, he played in the 2023 EFL Cup final and assisted Marcus Rashford for United's second goal of the match in their 2–0 victory over Newcastle United. 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 in a 4–1 win against Real Betis in the Europa League round of 16.

On 9 August 2023, he joined TSG Hoffenheim on a season-long loan. During his spell in Hoffenheim, Weghorst scored seven goals from 28 Bundesliga matches.

On 21 May 2024, Burnley said the player would be returning once the loan ended.

Youth
On 3 October 2014, Weghorst was called up to the Netherlands under-21 team for the first time for their two-legged 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification play-off against Portugal. He made his first and only appearance for the Jong Oranje in the second leg, scoring the team's first goal and winning a penalty kick converted by Nathan Aké for their fourth in a 5–4 defeat.

Senior team
Weghorst received his first full international call-up in Ronald Koeman's first Dutch squad in March 2018. He made his senior international debut in a friendly against England on 23 March at the Amsterdam Arena, appearing an 89th-minute substitute for Stefan de Vrij.

UEFA Euro 2020
On 26 May 2021, Weghorst was selected in the Netherlands squad for UEFA Euro 2020, Weghorst scored his first senior international goal in the team's final pre-tournament friendly against Georgia on 6 June.

He started in the Netherlands' opening match of the tournament, scoring the team's second goal of a 3–2 win against Ukraine in Amsterdam. He went on to start the second match against Austria and appear as a substitute in the third against North Macedonia, as well as the round of 16 loss to Czechia.

2022 FIFA World Cup
In November 2022, Weghorst was selected as a member of the Dutch squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. He made substitute appearances against both Ecuador and Qatar in the group stage, as well as the United States in the round of 16.

In the quarter-final match against Argentina, Weghorst came on as a 78th minute substitute with the Netherlands trailing 2–0. After pulling a goal back with an 83rd minute header, he equalised with a left-footed finish from Teun Koopmeiners' disguised free-kick eleven minutes into added time to send the match into extra time and an eventual penalty shootout. After saves by Emiliano Martínez from the Netherlands' first two kicks by Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis, Weghorst's successful fourth kick was in vain as the Oranje were eliminated 4–3 in the shootout. The bad tempered match came to be known as the Battle of Lusail due to the World Cup record 18 yellow cards and one red card, including a booking for Weghorst for dissent prior to his entrance as a substitute. After the match, Weghorst was engaged in a confrontation with Lionel Messi after the Argentina captain refused to swap shirts with him. Weghorst interrupted Messi's post-match interview with TyC Sports, calling "Hey, Messi, eh, Messi," to which Messi replied dismissively by saying “''Qué mirá(s), bobo? ¿Qué mirá(s), bobo? Andá pa allá, bobo. Andá pa allá.''” ("What are you looking at, idiot? What are you looking at, idiot? Get lost, idiot. Get lost.") The response went on to become a popular meme on social media, particularly in Latin America, and Weghorst became known by the nickname "Bobo" by his Argentine teammate Lisandro Martínez during his loan spell at Manchester United in 2023.

UEFA Euro 2024
During UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying, Weghorst scored three goals from eight appearances including winning goals in both fixtures against the Republic of Ireland, the latter of which ensured the Netherlands' qualification for the tournament finals in Germany.

On 29 May 2024, Weghorst was named in the Netherlands' squad for UEFA Euro 2024. He scored in the team's two final warm-up matches against Canada and Iceland respectively. In opening match against Poland, he came off the bench in the 81st minute, before scoring two minutes later off of his first touch to give his country a 2–1 victory.

Style of play
At 1.97 m, Weghorst commonly plays as a striker, in particular a 'target man' role, due to his ability to hold up the play. He is renowned as a goal poacher, with good reactive finishing inside the penalty area, but also regularly drops deep to help link play. In the 2021–22 Premier League season, Weghorst averaged more presses per 90 minutes than any other player. His style of play has been compared to that of Edin Džeko.

International

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

Honours
Manchester United
 * EFL Cup: 2022–23