(23) dreams of ‘one day’ returning to FC Groningen, the club where he attended the youth academy and made his debut in professional football. In the shirt of the French Toulouse FC, the striker is making such a splash that he has now made his debut in the Dutch national team.
Dallinga, born in Groningen, made his professional debut on December 12, 2020 in the Eredivisie match won 2-0 by FC Groningen with RKC Waalwijk. However, the self-trained striker was unable to secure a starting spot, so in the summer of 2021, with only seven substitute appearances in the first team to his name, he turned down a contract extension and transferred free of charge to the then Kitchen Champion Division club Excelsior.
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That turned out to be a masterstroke: with 32 goals in 37 games, the youngster became the top scorer at the second level, after which Toulouse struck and paid 2.5 million euros to bring Dallinga to France. After a season and a half, the counter stands at 33 goals in 78 games, which was rewarded by national coach Ronald Koeman with a debut in the Dutch team in the European Championship qualifying match at Gibraltar (0-6). However, Dallinga was not part of the selection in the past international match, so his chances of participating in the European Championship do not seem great at the moment.
Although a number of Premier League clubs (among others) were said to have shown interest in Dallinga last winter, he admits that in the podcast Freesia and Milan park the bus from ESPN that he would ‘someday’ want to return to Groningen. “Yes, absolutely. I have always said that I want to play in a full Euroborg,” says the striker. “When I made my debut it was corona, so the stadium was completely empty,” he explains. “So ultimately I do want to go back one day, yes,” Dallinga concludes.
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