Wesley Sneijder

Wesley Sneijder is an attacking midfielder for Galatasaray. He was born on 9 June 1984 in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Wesley’s youth career started in 1991 at AFC Ajax Academy. Sneijder had been a real prodigy during 11 years of his stay at the Amsterdam club’s academy. Wesley participated in many youth championship matches with his team.

In 2002 Sneijder signed his first professional contract with AFC Ajax. The young midfielder was included in the first squad of the team, and in the starting lineup. Wesley tried his best to be useful during his appearances both as a substitute and a regular. In 2003 the head coach started to include the young midfielder in the starting lineup more often, due to his skills and vision not matching the young age. From 2002 to 2007 Sneijder successfully played for Ajax, with 127 appearances and 5 goals.

In 2007 Real Madrid C.F. paid Ajax €27 million for the young attacking midfielder. Thus Wesley Sneijder became the second most expensive player ever sold by the Dutch giants. He signed a long-term contract with the Los Blancos, and in August 2007 supplemented its starting lineup. From his debut season at Real Madrid, Wesley was frequently allowed on the field, which helped him to quickly integrate in the team. Wesley performed quite successfully as an attacking midfielder at the new club. From 2007 to 2009 Sneijder made 52 appearances and scored 11 goals for Real Madrid.

Despite Sneijder’s confident play, the Spanish giants were willing to transfer him to the Italian Internazionale for €15 million. Thus, during the 2009 summer transfer window, Wesley Sneijder joined the ranks of Inter and was instrumental in the team’s clinching the Champions League title in 2009/2010 season.

In 2012 Wesley was asked to reduce his wages demand which he denied. As a result he was sidelined from the starting squad and later on, in January 2013 joined Turkish side Galatasaray.

From 2000 to 2003 Wesley Sneijder was capped 15 times and netted 3 goals for the Dutch U-17 and U-21 national teams. Since 2003 Wesley has been regularly called up to play for the Netherlands national team, with a personal standing of 81 matches and 23 goals.