Pascal Struijk outlines ambition for club and country with Leeds United position stance

Upon joining the Whites from Ajax as a teenager in January 2018, the defender's first goal was to become a Premier League player with the Whites. Sixty-nine top-flight appearances later, the 23-year-old is now enjoying another celebration in signing a new Whites deal.

The defender is now contracted at Leeds until the summer of 2027 and has plenty more that he wants to achieve between now and then both with club and country. Belgium represents the country of Struijk's birth and one of three nations that the Whites defender is eligible to represent on an international stage.

Through his heritage, Struijk also qualifies to play for Indonesia but the defender grew up in Holland and represented the Netherlands at under-17s level 18 months before joining Leeds. Former ADO Den Haag youngster Struijk joined the Whites as an 18-year-old having spent two years moving up the ranks in Ajax's youth system but without a single senior appearance to his name.

Five years after his arrival at Leeds, the 23-year-old now has 79 first team appearances under his belt including 69 in the Premier League on the back of five outings in the Championship as part of United's 2019-20 title winning campaign. Struijk initially joined United to link up with the club's under-23s but soon progressed into the first team and the defender has stayed on an upward trajectory ever since. Six years after stepping out for Netherlands under-17s, his displays have even put him on the verge of the Dutch senior side.

Amid continued speculation over who Struijk would ultimately represent on a national stage, the Whites defender was named in Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal's provisional 39-man squad for this winter's Qatar World Cup. Struik missed out as van Gaal trimmed the final numbers down to 26 but is hoping that continued success with Leeds can now go hand in hand with the desired breakthrough on the international stage.

Fresh from signing his new contract at Leeds, Struijk said of his future ambitions: "With me getting close to the Holland squad that is certainly something that I want to do or want to reach within the upcoming season or seasons. And then also with Leeds, just do as best as we can. But overall the final goal is to go as high as we can."

Struijk's Leeds debut came back in December 2019 when he was brought on with one minute remaining of the 2-0 Championship victory at home to Hull City. After three more league outings from the bench, a first Championship start then presented itself in July's 3-1 win at Derby County, by which point Leeds had already been crowned Championship champions following the season's restart after the season's halt due to coronavirus.

Struijk also started the season finale at home to Charlton Athletic and then lined up in United's first Premier League game for 16 years in the August 2020-21 curtain-raiser at Liverpool. Another 68 Premier League appearances have followed and in a variety of positions be it centre-back, CDM or more recently at left back.

The rapidly-rising Whites ace is best recognised as a natural centre half but says he relishes the advantages that come with operating in different positions.

"The more that I can add to my package as a player the better I can become," said Struijk, asked about playing in different roles on LUTV. "I want to get better every day and it's for me to work hard in training and see how much better I can become. I came here with a target and that was for me to become my best version or at least the player that I want to become and to play in the Premier League of course because I think it is the best league in the world."And the journey for me so far has been really good. I think I have been growing as a person, as a player but in general everything that has come with it so far has been really good to me."