Thijs Dallinga: A Box Office Forward

Thijs Dallinga took a touch with his right instep, shielded the ball with his body, turned toward goal and fired the ball home in off the inside of the far post. The movements, while subtle, had a coolness about them. A panache that suggests the striker that possesses it has far more years at a top level than he does. With this goal, coming at home in a Europa League win over group leaders and significant favorites Liverpool, Dallinga had announced himself on a global stage.

Add in his six goal involvements for Toulouse in Ligue 1, who are admittedly coming to terms with maintaining campaigns across domestic and European fronts, and the Dutch forward is putting together a season that will catch eyes. His journey to this stage has been far from straightforward but he has taken to it with much the same aplomb as he took this particular goal. We are witnessing a forward become accustomed to (and perhaps thrive in) the limelight.

Dallinga is a native of Groningen but he started his career 74km down the road in Emmen, progressing through the youth ranks. He grabbed his professional debut at just 17 years old for FC Emmen in the Dutch Second Division. Emmen went to the Eredivisie in that season via the playoffs but Dallinga made the journey to the top division by a different route. He made just eight senior appearances for Emmen and scored a lone goal before being brought to his hometown club. 

FC Groningen paid €100k for Dallinga’s services and the sky seemed to be the limit. He started his career in green and white in their youth team, but this path turned out to be a dead end. He scored five goals in the 17 times he turned out for Jong Groningen but they stopped competing before he could establish himself in the first team. Despite being retained after the youth team shuttered, he made just seven appearances for Groningen’s senior squad and at the expiry of his contract, Thijs decided to blaze a trail away from home.