Royston Drenthe

Royston Drenthe
Drenthe with Hércules in 2011
Personal information
Full name Royston Ricky Drenthe[1]
Date of birth (1987-04-08) 8 April 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth Rotterdam, Netherlands
Height 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Left winger, left-back
Youth career
1992–2000 SC Neptunus
2000–2003 Feyenoord
2003–2005 Excelsior
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2007 Feyenoord 29 (0)
2007–2012 Real Madrid 46 (2)
2010–2011Hércules (loan) 17 (4)
2011–2012Everton (loan) 21 (3)
2012–2013 Alania Vladikavkaz 6 (3)
2013–2015 Reading 23 (2)
2014–2015Sheffield Wednesday (loan) 15 (1)
2015 Kayseri Erciyesspor 11 (3)
2015–2016 Baniyas 18 (0)
2018–2019 Sparta Rotterdam 32 (5)
2019–2021 Kozakken Boys 9 (3)
2021–2022 Racing Murcia 28 (9)
2022Real Murcia (loan) 9 (0)
2022 Racing Mérida City 15 (3)
2023 Kozakken Boys 5 (0)
Total 284 (38)
International career
2005 Netherlands U18 1 (0)
2005–2006 Netherlands U19 6 (0)
2006–2008 Netherlands U21 17 (4)
2008 Netherlands B 1 (0)
2010 Netherlands 1 (0)
Medal record
Representing  Netherlands
UEFA U-21 Euro
Winner 2007 Netherlands
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Royston Ricky Drenthe (born 8 April 1987) is a Dutch former professional footballer. Although primarily a left winger, he has also played as a left-back.[2][3]

Drenthe started his professional career with Eredivisie side Feyenoord in 2005, having graduated from the club's youth academy. He made 37 appearances for the side before switching to La Liga club Real Madrid in 2007. During his five years in Madrid, he made 65 appearances for the club, spending time on loan at Hércules and Premier League side Everton, making 19 and 27 appearances for those clubs respectively. He then joined Russian Premier League side Alania Vladikavkaz in February 2013 on a free transfer, making six appearances in a brief spell at the club, before he joined Reading in June 2013. In January 2015, he joined Kayseri Erciyessor, before moving to UAE Pro League side Baniyas Club in September 2015. After being released by Baniyas in July 2016, Drenthe announced his retirement from playing. He has since begun recording music under the name Roya2Faces.[4] After two years, Drenthe came out of retirement to play for Sparta Rotterdam in 2018.[5]

Drenthe made 17 appearances for the Netherlands under-21s between 2006 and 2008, and was a member of the team that won the 2007 European Championship. He later made one appearance for the Netherlands B team and also featured once for the full national team.

  1. ^ "Acta del Partido celebrado el 16 de mayo de 2010, en Málaga" [Minutes of the Match held on 16 May 2010, in Málaga] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Drenthe, the unlikely Galactico". FIFA. 31 December 2009. Archived from the original on 3 January 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  3. ^ Royston Drenthe at WorldFootball.net
  4. ^ Gorst, Paul (8 February 2017). "Ex-Everton man Drenthe becomes a YouTube rap star".
  5. ^ "Royston Drenthe naar Sparta en maakt moeder trots" (in Dutch). Algemeen Dagblad. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2018.