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Wouter Burger

Wouter Burger (born 16 February 2001) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a central or defensive midfielder for EFL Championship club Stoke City.

Burger began his professional career with Feyenoord, making his Eredivise debut in May 2019. after loan spells with Excelsior, and Sparta Rotterdam he moved on to Swiss Super League side Basel in August 2021. After two seasons at St. Jakob-Park, Burger joined English Championship club Stoke City in August 2023 for a fee of £4.3 million.

Club career

Feyenoord

Burger started playing football at amateur club ZBVH in the village of Zuid-Beijerland near Rotterdam. After time at VV SHO and Excelsior, he joined the Feyenoord youth academy. On 30 March 2017, Burger signed his first professional contract at the age of 16. Burger made his first-team debut for Feyenoord on 17 August 2018 in the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League third round qualifiers against AS Trenčín, coming on for Tyrell Malacia in the 83rd minute. On 29 August 2019, Burger scored his first goal in professional football in a 3–0 away win against Hapoel Be'er Sheva for Feyenoord in the play-off round of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League. In December 2018, he signed another contract extension, keeping him at the club until 2023.

Loan to Excelsior

Burger was sent on loan to his former youth club Excelsior in the second half of the 2019–20 season. Burger played in seven Eerste Divisie games for Excelsior, before the league was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Loan to Sparta Rotterdam

Ahead of the 2020–21 season, Burger was sent on another loan to a Rotterdam-based club – this time Sparta. Here he made 18 first team appearances in the Eredivisie scoring two goals helping Sparta finish in 7th and qualify for the European competition play-offs where Burger played against his parent club Feynoord in a 2–0 defeat.

Basel

On 31 August 2021 Swiss Super League club Basel announced that Burger had signed a four-year contract with them. Burger joined Basel's first team during their 2021–22 season under head coach Patrick Rahmen. He made his domestic league debut for his new club on 12 September being substituted in during the away game as Basel played a 1–1 draw against Lugano. In his first season with the club, Burger played 35 domestic league and Conference League matches without scoring a goal. The team ended the league season as runners-up and in the 2021–22 Conference League they advanced to the round of 16.

Burger scored his first goal for the team in the first match of the 2022–23 Swiss Super League season. It was the equaliser in the away game at the Schützenwiese on 16 July 2022 as Basel played a 1–1 draw with Winterthur. It was during the first half of this season in which Burger achieved his best playing performances, especially in the 2022–23 Conference League. This was shown during the first group stage match at home in the St. Jakob-Park on 8 September in which he scored his first brace, as Basel won 3–1 against Pyunik. Basel advanced as far as the semi-finals, but here they were defeated by Fiorentina. In the Super League the team suffered a disappointing season and finished in fifth position.

Soon after the beginning of the next season Burger decided to move on and the club announced his departure on 25 August. During his time with the club he played a total of 104 games for Basel scoring a total of six goals. 59 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, four in the Swiss Cup, 27 in the UEFA Conference League and 14 were friendly games. He scored four goals in the domestic league and the above mentioned two during the European games.

Stoke City

On 25 August 2023, Burger signed for EFL Championship club Stoke City on a four-year contract for a fee of £4.3 million. He scored on his full debut for Stoke on 29 August 2023 in a 6–1 win against Rotherham United in the EFL Cup. He scored the only goal of the game against Queens Park Rangers on 14 February 2024. Burger was a key member of the Stoke team in 2023–24, making 41 appearances, scoring four goals as Stoke successfully avoided relegation, finishing in 17th position.

International career

With the Netherlands U17 team, Burger participated in the 2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship in England. The team eventually won the final over Italy after a penalty-shootout. Burger was subsequently included in the UEFA team of the tournament.