Leroy George

Leroy Martin Giovanni George (born 21 April 1987) is a Dutch footballer of Surinamese descent, who plays as a winger for PTT 1. Lig side Göztepe. His natural position is as a right forward or right winger, but he has also proven to be useful on the left wing and as a striker while at FC Utrecht and NEC.

Club career

Youth career

Being born in Paramaribo, Suriname and growing up in Amsterdam, George started his youth career at the local clubs DWS, Fortius and ZSGODWS before being noticed by FC Utrecht.

FC Utrecht

He made his debut for the senior side on 13 April 2007, in an away-match against Sparta Rotterdam, ending 1–1. He replaced Etienne Shew-Atjon in the beginning of the second half, and scored a debut goal in the 68th minute, sealing the draw.^[1] He played two more matches this season.

The following year, George had established himself into the starting lineup; he only missed one match because of a suspension, and scored seven times that season. At the end of the season, it was announced that he had signed a contract extension with Utrecht, keeping him in the Domstad until mid-2011, despite of some problems with his agent.^[2][3] The forward started the 2008–09 season well, but because of growing problems with his physical shape, he lost his place in the starting eleven after a couple of weeks. After showing an unmotivated behavior, he was sent back to the reserve squad by manager Willem van Hanegem.^[4] A week later his behavior had improved, and he was forgiven and put back on the first team, and since then he played a majority of the games.

After the 2008–09 season, he lost track and almost never played anymore. In the 2009–10 season he only played eight matches, and after the season was over, he was told that he was not needed anymore at the club, and thus put on the transfer list.^[5]

NEC

On 20 July 2010, it was published that George had signed a one-year deal with NEC The club put an option in his contract to extend his contract with two more seasons if he lives up to the expectations of the club.^[6] In the second round of the 2010–11 Eredivisie season, George was awarded as the best player of the round, after having two assists in an away-match against Willem II.^[7] The match ended in a 3–5 victory for NEC.

Qarabağ

On 6 June 2013, George signed a two-year contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side Qarabağ.^[8] George made his debut for Qarabağ away to Metalurg Skopje in the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round match on 2 July 2013, coming on as an 84th-minute substitute for fellow debutante Nikoloz Gelashvili.^[9]

George already scored twice for Qarabağ in the Europa League – one against Metalurg Skopje (11 July 2013, second leg)^[10] and another against Piast Gliwice (25 July 2013, second leg) on away match.^[11] George left Qarabağ at the end of his contract in June 2015.^[12]

Göztepe

On 8 July 2015, George signed a two-year contract with Göztepe S.K..^[13]

International career

George was called up for the Netherlands under-21 team various times in 2007 and 2008 by national team coach, Foppe de Haan, but only managed to play once.

Having been born in Paramaribo in Suriname, George was eligible to play for the Surinamese national team. He was called up for the Parbo Bier Cup in 2009 with a mixed team of Surinamese and Dutch-Surinamese players.

Career Statistics

Club

As of 3 June 2015

Honours

Qarabağ

• Azerbaijan Premier League (2): 2013–14, 2014–15
• Azerbaijan Cup (1): 2014–15

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leroy George.

• Official Leroy George profile on NEC-Nijmegen.nl (Dutch)
• Voetbal International: Leroy George (Dutch)
• Leroy George profile at Soccerway
• Video about career of Leroy George