Dylan Mertens (born 20 July 1995, in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

) is a Dutch professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a winger for

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv ( bg, „Ботев“ Пловдив, ) or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, that competes in ...

in the

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

Club career

Youth

Mertens played for SDW, DWS and

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

before joining the

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merg ...

Youth Academy in 2008. Two years later he had to leave and decided to return to AFC. His return was not for long and after one season he moved to

SV Argon Sport Vereniging Argon is a football and basketball club from Mijdrecht, Netherlands. Its male first football squad plays in the Hoofdklasse. History 20th century The club was founded in 1971 as a merger of RKSV Stormvogels, VV Mijdrecht, an ...

. In the summer of 2013 he made the move to

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadium is called ' De Vliert', an 8,500 all-seater. ...

, where he played with the A1 (Under 19).

FC Volendam

In the preparation of the 2014/15 season, Mertens joined

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion. Nicknamed "de Palingboeren", the club was founded ...

on an amateur basis. That season, he played 15 matches in the second team in which he scored 4 times. He also made it to the match selection of the first team two times, but didn't make his debut. On 30 March 2015 he signed his first professional contract with FC Volendam, until mid 2017. In the summer of 2015, Mertens joined the first team. On 7 August 2015 he made his debut for FC Volendam in the league match against

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

(1-4 win). He replaced

Rafik El Hamdi Rafik El Hamdi (born 3 January 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Derde Divisie club Sportlust '46. Born in the Netherlands, he has represented Morocco at youth level. Club career El Hamdi joined CR Al Hoceima in M ...

after 79 minutes. On 18 September 2015 he scored his first goal for FC Volendam, the opening goal in a 0-2 win against

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport is a professional association football club based in the city of Helmond, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. The club was founded on 27 June 1967, a ...

. In February 2016, Mertens extended his contract at FC Volendam until mid 2018. In the preparation of the 2016/17 season, Mertens tore off his front crossband and was unable to play for the rest of the season. On 29 April 2017, 10 months later, he made his comeback in a match of Jong FC Volendam against

FC Rijnvogels FC Rijnvogels is a football club from Katwijk, Netherlands. FC Rijnvogels plays in the 2022–23 Saturday Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in ...

TOP Oss

On 8 August 2019 it was announced, that Mertens had signed a contract until the summer 2020 with

TOP Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviati ...

. However, after a disappointing start on the season, the club announced on 17 October 2019, that Mertens was one of three players that had left the club.Drie spelers vertrekken bij TOP Oss; Ioannidis is nieuw
toposs.nl, 17 October 2019

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mertens, Dylan 1995 births Living people Dutch footballers FC Volendam players SC Telstar players TOP Oss players FC Tsarsko Selo Sofia players Botev Plovdiv players Eerste Divisie players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Footballers from Amsterdam Association football wingers