Steven Berghuis

Steven Berghuis, 34, is a Dutch left-back currently playing for Ajax in the Eredivisie, a positional role that reflects the veteran's evolution across a long career in Dutch football. With six appearances logged in the 2025/26 season and only 45 minutes recorded in the season stats, the data points to a player who has been used selectively, though his recent run of starts tells a more active story over the past several weeks.

Berghuis has shown a sharp upturn in form across his last five matches. After a modest outing in the 3-1 defeat at Groningen in early March, where he played 69 minutes and rated 6.74, he followed up with a goal and an 8.58 rating in Ajax's 4-0 win over Sparta Rotterdam. That momentum carried into April, when he delivered arguably his best performance of the campaign against Heracles, scoring twice in a 3-0 away win and earning a 9.29 rating. Those two performances suggest a player hitting a productive run at a stage of the season when consistency matters most. The draws and defeats sandwiched around those highs, including a 1-1 at Feyenoord and a 1-2 home loss to Twente, show that Ajax's results have been uneven even when Berghuis has contributed individually.

At 34, Berghuis is operating as a reliable option in a squad that has experienced considerable transition in recent seasons. His ability to contribute goals from a defensive position adds an unconventional dimension to Ajax's attacking play, and his experience in high-pressure Eredivisie fixtures, including the De Klassieker against Feyenoord, underlines his continued value to the coaching staff. No transfer activity has been reported around him recently, and he remains part of the Netherlands' broader pool of experienced domestic players, though international involvement at this stage of his career is limited.

In his next match, the areas worth watching are whether Berghuis can sustain the goal-scoring form he showed against Heracles and how he manages the defensive demands of the left-back role in what remains a competitive Eredivisie run-in. SportSignals' AI analysis engine has tracked Ajax's recent fixtures closely, and Berghuis's individual rating trajectory over the last three starts will be a useful reference point for assessing his influence on the team's shape.