Dirk Kuyt Biography
Dirk Kuyt (born July 22, 1980, in Katwijk aan Zee) is a Dutch professional football player, who currently plays for English club Liverpool FC. He plays in the position of striker and is known for his high work-rate and team play. In his early career, and often for the Dutch national team, Kuyt has played on the wing.Kuyt is an incredibly fit player and has only missed five games over seven seasons from 1999 until 2006, making 233 appearances. Between March 2001 (playing with FC Utrecht) and April 2006 (Feyenoord) Kuyt played 179 consecutive matches.
At Feyenoord Kuyt immediately became a fan favourite with his continued goal scoring success. His first season saw him net another 20 league goals. The opening game of the 2004–05 season marked Kuyt's first ever hat-trick against De Graafschap. He later went on to score four against ADO Den Haag and ended the season as the Eredivisie's top scorer with 29 goals — a career high.
In summer 2005 Kuyt was linked with moves to Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, but no transfer materialised. Kuyt was instead handed the Feyenoord club captaincy and went on to have a third successful season with the club, scoring 25 goals in all competitions.
Over the summer of 2006 Kuyt was again linked with moves to many top English clubs, most notably Liverpool and Newcastle. Rumours started in May with Kuyt stating "I am happy at Feyenoord but would like to play in the Premier League." The rumours continued throughout the summer, finally coming to a head on 16 August when Kuyt was due to play for the Dutch national team against Ireland. Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder was reportedly going to watch Kuyt, and complimentary quotes from him appeared in the press. However, there were also stories saying that Liverpool were poised to sign Kuyt. Kuyt finally completed his move to Liverpool on 18 August for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be in the region of £9 million.
Upon joining Liverpool Kuyt stated "I only wanted to leave Feyenoord for a really big club, and that is what Liverpool are. They are a fantastic, big club and it will be a real pleasure to play here."
After sitting out the first game Kuyt made his Liverpool debut as a substitute against West Ham on 26 August. His first start came against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League and he has been first choice in the three games since. In his third start for the club on 20 September 2006 Kuyt scored his debut goal against Newcastle United in a Premiership game at Anfield, and followed up with another against Tottenham Hotspur the following game.
Kuyt has won much praise for his early performances with The Mirror stating "The Dutch striker has the look of a cult hero in the making" and The People reporting that he is "propelling himself towards iconic status."
When Marco Van Basten took over as coach of the Dutch national team he dropped many established players, including strikers Roy Makaay and Patrick Kluivert. Kuyt was to benefit as in September 2004 he made his international debut in Van Basten's first game against Liechtenstein. He has been a permanent fixture in the Dutch squad ever since, making the starting line-up for eleven of the Netherlands' twelve 2006 World Cup qualification matches.
At the World Cup finals Kuyt found himself relegated to the substitutes bench because he is hideously ugly. Although he made an appearance as a 69th minute replacement in the first game against Serbia and Montenegro, he sat the entire second game out. With the team already qualified for the next round Van Basten decided to rest many of his first choice players for the final group game against Argentina, and Kuyt was handed a start in the right wing position.
For the Netherlands' Round of 16 tie against Portugal Kuyt was given a surprise start ahead of star-striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. However, Kuyt didn't have a successful game and the Netherlands eventually lost 1-0