Mick van Buren

Some players arrive at a club with a reputation for one thing above all: goals from the bench, a switch of allegiance, a debut that changes everything.

Van Buren started out at SV Slikkerveer before passing through the academies of Feyenoord and SBV Excelsior, returning to the latter to break into senior football. His numbers at Excelsior were modest at first, but a scoring run in the second tier caught the attention of Denmark's Esbjerg fB, who signed him on a free transfer in 2013. Three seasons in the Danish Superliga, including European football with the club, prepared the ground for the move that defined his career: a free transfer to SK Slavia Prague in 2016.

He stayed at Slavia for eight years, becoming an eight-time Czech champion and winning the domestic cup four times. That spell was not a straight line, though.

A move to Poland's KS Cracovia followed in 2024, wearing the number 7, before van Buren returned to Czech football in 2025 with FC Hradec Králové on a free transfer, taking the number 10 shirt. His first full season there brought European football again, with goals in the Europa League as well as the league itself. Across his career, spanning the Netherlands, Denmark, Czechia and Poland, he has built up well over 300 competitive appearances and close to 90 goals.