Mitchel Bakker (born 20 June 2000) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

left wing-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

, on loan from

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

Club career

Ajax

Bakker made his debut for

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

in a 7–0

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

win against Te Werve on 26 September 2018. He played his second and final game for the senior team in a 3–0 cup win against

Go Ahead Eagles The Go Ahead Eagles are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer in the province of Overijssel. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in th ...

on 31 October 2018.

Paris Saint-Germain

On 7 July 2019, Mitchel Bakker signed for

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

(PSG) on a free transfer. His contract tied him to the club for four seasons. Bakker made his debut for PSG on 29 January 2020 in a 2–0

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

win against Pau, coming on as a substitute. He made his first start for the club in a 6–1 cup win against

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

on 12 February, and made his first

appearance and start in a 4–4 draw against

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

on 15 February. After the Ligue 1 season was ended early due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, PSG was awarded the title. On 15 June, Bakker was nominated for the Golden Boy, being one of three PSG players in the 100-player shortlist; he was later included in the list of the top 20 candidates. On 24 July, Bakker started and played all 90 minutes in the

2020 Coupe de France Final The 2020 Coupe de France final was a football match between Paris Saint-Germain and Saint-Étienne to decide the winner of the 2019–20 Coupe de France, the 103rd season of the Coupe de France. The final was originally scheduled for 25 April, but ...

against

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

. The final score was 1–0 for PSG. In the 2020 Coupe de la Ligue Final on 31 July, he played the entire match as PSG won 6–5 on penalties against

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. On 20 October 2020, Bakker made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

debut, coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 loss against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. Due to injuries to

Juan Bernat Juan Bernat Velasco (; born 1 March 1993) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for La Liga club Getafe. He began his career at Valencia, featuring in three La Liga campaigns for the club. He moved to Bayern Munich in ...

and

Layvin Kurzawa Layvin Marc Kurzawa (born 4 September 1992) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Primeira Liga club Boavista. Kurzawa began his career at Monaco in 2010, and played 96 official games for the team, scoring eight goal ...

, Bakker had more play time in the 2020–21 season than he did in the previous one; by the end of the campaign, he had made 40 appearances. He notably started in PSG's 2–1 Champions League semi-final loss to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

on 28 April 2021. Bakker won the

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

and Coupe de France in his final season in Paris.

Bayer Leverkusen

On 12 July 2021, Bakker joined

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

. He signed a four-year contract with the club. According to reports, the transfer fee of the deal was of 7 million

euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

, potentially rising to 10 million with bonuses. A buy-back option for PSG was reportedly included in the deal. Bakker scored his first goal for Leverkusen in a 4–0 win over

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

on 21 August.

Atalanta

On 7 July 2023, Bakker joined

club

Loan to Lille

On 30 August 2024, Bakker was loaned to

club

for the season.

International career

Bakker is a youth international for the Netherlands. He has represented his home country from under-15 to under-21 level. In October 2022, Bakker was included in the preliminary squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Career statistics

Honours

Jong Ajax *

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

: 2017–18 Ajax *

: 2018–19 Paris Saint-Germain *

: 2019–20 *

: 2019–20, 2020–21 *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

: 2019–20 *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

runner-up: 2019–20 Atalanta *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

: 2023–24

References

External links

Profile
at the Atalanta BC website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bakker, Mitchel 2000 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Dutch people of Indonesian descent Sportspeople of Indonesian descent Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Eerste Divisie players Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players Serie A players Jong Ajax players AFC Ajax players Paris Saint-Germain FC players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Atalanta BC players Lille OSC players Footballers from Purmerend Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy UEFA Europa League–winning players 21st-century Dutch sportsmen