How a professional footballer was smuggled into a new club as a handball player
In short: Luuk de Jong is a prolific Dutch striker with a career spanning top European leagues. Yet, his 2025 transfer to Porto remains one of the sport's most bizarre operations, involving tinted windows, extreme secrecy, and a medical registration that disguised him as an athlete from an entirely different sport.
Born in Switzerland to professional volleyball players, Luuk de Jong rose through the Dutch youth ranks to become a central figure in European football. After early success at Twente, where he helped secure a historic championship, his career took him through Germany, England, and Spain. His time at Sevilla was particularly notable, where he scored the winning goal in the 2020 Europa League semi-final and netted twice in the final, earning man of the match honors.
De Jong's legacy is most deeply tied to PSV Eindhoven. Across two stints, he became a legendary figure for the club, climbing to the upper echelons of their all-time top scorers list. His dedication to the club was such that even when his contract expired in 2025, he continued training with the team. The club eventually honored him by stating his years in their colors formed a story of unconditional love that would belong to PSV forever.
The final chapter of his career took a surreal turn in August 2025. Upon signing a one-year deal with Porto, the club went to extraordinary lengths to avoid media speculation. To keep the transfer under wraps, officials rushed him from the airport in a private van with tinted windows and registered his medical examinations under the guise of a handball player. Despite this cloak-and-dagger arrival, his time at Porto was marred by recurring knee injuries, including a partial anterior cruciate ligament tear, before he departed the club in May 2026 following their Primeira Liga title win.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Luuk de Jong
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