Pascal Struijk

Early career

Struijk started his youth career at ADO Den Haag at the age of seven before moving to Ajax in 2016. In his age group, he would compete with fellow left-sided centre-back and future international Sven Botman and struggled to make an impression, even being tried as a striker in some youth games. With his contract due to expire in the summer of 2018, Struijk joined Leeds United on trial in January of the same year before signing permanently later that month on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

Leeds United

His first involvement with the first team came on 13 April 2018, when he was named on the bench against Aston Villa in a 1–0 defeat. Struijk was a regular for the Leeds United under-23 side over the course the 2018–19 season, and he featured in the team that won the Professional Development League on 6 May 2019, beating Birmingham City on penalties having drawn the final 0–0. He was named on the bench by Marcelo Bielsa for both legs of the Championship play-off semi-final against Derby County, but did not come off the bench for either; Leeds lost 4–3 on aggregate over the two legs. On 10 December 2019, Struijk made his debut for Leeds United, coming on as a 91st-minute substitute for Hélder Costa in a 2–0 victory at home to Hull City. His second appearance came in the following match as a late substitute in a 3–3 draw at home to Cardiff City, with Struijk failing to clear the ball in the build-up to Robert Glatzel's late equaliser. He made his…

Struijk was capped three times by the Netherlands under-17 team in 2016. In September 2022, he was named in a provisional Netherlands squad for international fixtures later that month, before being named in a 39-man provisional Dutch squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Struijk is left-footed. He primarily plays as a centre-back, but can also play as a defensive midfielder, and as a left-back. Impressive in the air at either end, Struijk has been compared to Dutch international Virgil van Dijk due to his imposing physical play and ability on the ball.

Struijk was born in Deurne in Belgium, but moved to The Hague at the age of three. He is of Indonesian descent through his maternal grandfather.