Luuk de Jong? We’d have loved to keep him

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Portal dos Dragões

·4 September 2025

Luuk de Jong? We’d have loved to keep him

FC Porto's high-impact signing for the upcoming season - also due to the secrecy that surrounded the entire process and the surprise presentation at the Estádio do Dragão - Luuk de Jong has left a mark at his previous club, PSV Eindhoven.

Quoted by Voetbal International and the channel NOS, Earnest Stewart, technical director of the Dutch emblem, discussed the striker's departure to FC Porto, praising the player's attitude. "There has always been a great deal of respect between our club and Luuk, which extended to the open-minded conversations we had. We made it clear that as soon as we had another forward, we would call him," the director began to explain.

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"We ended up making the decision to sign Alassane Pléa, but we always kept in touch. We would have liked to have kept Luuk. Without him, we lose attributes that we need to replace. On the other hand, it is something that creates some space for other players to grow," Stewart continued.

And he concluded: "He wanted to try a new international adventure and we wanted to keep him. We talked about it, always with a lot of respect on both sides. We kept each other informed about all the developments," the PSV director praised.

De Jong scored 74 goals in 134 official matches for the Eindhoven club over the past three seasons. He has already participated in four games for FC Porto and was decisive in paving the way for the dragons' victory at Alvalade last Saturday, by 2-1.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.