Schouten ruptures his cruciate ligament and misses PSV’s season and the World Cup

PSV Eindhoven captain Jerdy Schouten suffered a serious knee injury during the 4-3 win over Utrecht and has already undergone surgery, the club confirmed on Sunday. The Netherlands midfielder faces a spell out that could stretch to nine months, which all but rules out any chance of playing at the World Cup.

How the injury happened

The incident came in the second half of Saturday’s match. Schouten twisted his knee in an apparently innocuous movement, with no direct contact from an opponent, and had to be carried off on a stretcher. Tests carried out on Sunday confirmed the worst-case scenario: a ruptured cruciate ligament, an injury that usually requires six to nine months for full recovery.

“When it happened I felt straight away that something was wrong,” said the 29-year-old. “You still hold on to some hope that it is not that bad, but unfortunately that was not the case. The blow is hard right now, but I will move forward quickly.”

One pillar fewer in the closing stretch of the season

The absence comes at a delicate moment. Schouten has 40 appearances for PSV this season, 28 of them in the Eredivisie alone, and had been a key part of a campaign that could earn the club a third straight national title. Losing the captain precisely in the closing stretch is a blow both technically and symbolically for the squad.

For the Netherlands, the midfielder has 17 caps since his debut in 2022 and had played the full 90 minutes last week in a friendly against Ecuador that ended in a draw. The coaching staff must now rethink its midfield options, since Schouten had been an alternative offering balance between ball-winning and building from the back.

What comes next

Despite the harsh prognosis, the player himself is trying to stay optimistic. “Big things are about to happen with PSV again and I will do everything to be involved in all of it,” he said. The club has not publicly detailed the rehabilitation timetable, but injuries of this type usually keep players off the pitch for practically an entire season, which underlines how hard it will be to see him in action before the next World Cup.