| BIOGRAPHIE |
Wesley Sneijder was born on June 9, 1984 in Utrecht into a football family: his father was a player, his older brother Jeffrey plays for Stormvogels Telstar and his younger brother Rodney plays for the youth academy of Ajax.
AJAX:
Although Sneijder was not born in Amsterdam, he played for the Ajax youth academy.
Sneijder made his debut for Ajax in a 2-0 win at Excelsior on December 22, 2002 when manager Ronald Koeman, troubled by an injury-filled squad called him up, advised by Danny Blind, the then-coach of the Ajax youth-squad. He rapidly established himself in the role of midfield general and occasional left winger. Despite his short height, he is pacy and quick and strong on the ball and his passing range is enhanced by his two-footedness (ambidextrous).
REAL MADRID:
On August 12, 2007, Ajax agreed to sell Sneijder to Real Madrid for €27 million, according to the club's web-site, making him the second most expensive Dutch football player. He was the second of three Dutchmen to sign for Real Madrid for the 2007 season joining Royston Drenthe and later Arjen Robben. He also was given the number 23 which was worn by David Beckham for four full seasons at Real Madrid.
In his first La Liga match for Real Madrid he scored the winner in the Madrid derby against Atlético Madrid. On the second matchday, he scored two goals against Villarreal, 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 at the Bernabeu and taking his goal tally to 9 in La Liga in a season which also saw Real retain their title.
INTERNATIONAL CAREER:
Sneijder debuted with the Netherlands Under-21 side against Czech Republic on March 28, 2003. His first game with the Dutch national team was against Portugal on April 30 that same year, when he became the eighth youngest man to play for Holland in the team’s history.
Source: wikipedia.org
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