Luuk de Jong named as Eredivisie Player of the Month in April
Luuk de Jong has been named as Eredivisie Player of the Month in April. The PSV captain was chosen based on statistics and votes from football fans. It is the fifth time this season that the best player award has gone to a PSV player.
Comeback
The 32-year-old forward was of great value to PSV in the month of April. In the last four rounds, De Jong scored six times and gave one assist, making an important contribution to PSV's victories over NEC Nijmegen (2-4), Excelsior Rotterdam (4-0), FC Volendam (2-3) and Ajax (3-0). The comeback puts PSV in second place in the Eredivisie with currently the best credentials to qualify for the preliminary rounds of the Champions League.
Into the books
The PSV captain scored in all four matches. The last time De Jong scored six goals in a single month was four years ago (April 2019).
The PSV striker provided the opening goal against FC Volendam, meaning he has now scored against all the Eredivisie clubs he has played against. De Jong scored against 27 different Eredivisie clubs and overtook the likes of Cor van der Gijp, Ove Kindvall (both 26 clubs) and Marco van Basten (25 clubs). The forward also goes into the books with his two goals in the Klassieker: De Jong is only the third player ever to score in five consecutive Eredivisie games against Ajax, after Spitz Kohn (1962) and Dirk Kuijt (2006).
Luuk de Jong's tally stands at 12 goals this season. Thanks to these, the captain has now overtaken Hallvar Thoresen (106) and passed Mateja Kežman (105) on PSV's all-time Eredivisie top scorer list, with only Willy van der Kuijlen (308), Coen Dillen (120) and Luc Nilis (110) now ahead of him.
The award was presented by ESPN presenter Hans Kraay jr. You can watch the interview with De Jong here
Eredivisie Player of the Month
Being selected as Eredivisie Player of the Month is a nice reward for Luuk de Jong, who is showing his worth for PSV again this season. The former Oranje international is the fifth PSV player to win the monthly award; earlier this season, Cody Gakpo (September and October) and Xavi Simons (August and March) had already been named best player.
About the voting
The Eredivisie Player of the Month and Johan Cruyff Talent of the Month Awards are based on statistics (StatsPerform) and votes from football fans (KPN Man of the Match). These elements also count towards the Eredivisie Player of the Year and Johan Cruyff Talent of the Year Awards, which are presented during the Eredivisie Awards at the end of the season 2022/23.
The vote is an initiative of the Eredivisie CV in collaboration with ESPN and EA Sports. The Johan Cruyff Talent of the Month is an initiative of Eredivisie CV, in collaboration with ESPN, the Johan Cruyff Foundation and VriendenLoterij (Friends Lottery).
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