[15] The following week, on De Jong's 21st birthday, he found the back of the net two more times as Twente beat VVV Venlo 4–1.

[19] On 10 February, De Jong found the back of the net two more times, but Twente missed the chance to go top of the league table, as they lost 3–2 at home to Heracles.

[citation needed] On 8 March, in a Europa League match against Schalke 04, De Jong was the protagonist of a controversial penalty decision[21] that resulted in a red card for Schalke defender Joël Matip, and a penalty kick which he himself successfully converted, to ensure the win for his side by 1–0.

[22] However, Twente ended up falling out of the competition, losing 4–1 in the second leg in Germany, as de Jong's fellow Dutchman Klaas-Jan Huntelaar netted a hat-trick.

[23] De Jong scored twice in two minutes on 14 April to put his side 2–1 up away to Breda, but an injury-time strike from Nourdin Boukhari denied Twente the chance to close the gap on title rivals Ajax.

[27] On 18 July 2012, De Jong signed for Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach on a five-year deal, with a fee of €15 million (£12.6m), having stated it was his dream to join.

[28] On 21 August, he started his first European game for Mönchengladbach and in the process scored an own goal from a free kick in a 3–1 defeat at the hands of Dynamo Kyiv during the Champions League Qualifiers.

[32] However, later in the season, De Jong's first team opportunities soon faded after falling out with manager Lucien Favre, and only made 23 appearances, scoring six times.

[citation needed] On 29 January 2014, De Jong completed a loan signing with Premier League side Newcastle United until the end of the 2013–14 season.

[citation needed] In May 2014, it was announced that de Jong would be returning to Borussia Mönchengladbach after he failed to score in any of his twelve appearances for Newcastle.

[37] De Jong made his official debut for the club, where he scored in both legs, as PSV beat St. Pölten 4–2 on aggregate in the third round of Europa League.

[43] On 16 August 2020, de Jong scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Manchester United in the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League.

[49] On 23 September, he made his debut in a goalless draw against Cádiz, starting and playing 67 minutes before being substituted for Philippe Coutinho.

With that, he brought his total number of Eredivisie goals for PSV to 108 and passed Romário, Mateja Kežman and Hallvar Thoresen in the list of all-time club top scorers.

De Jong ended the 2023–24 season with 27 goals to share the Willy van der Kuijlen Trophy with AZ's Vangelis Pavlidis as he captained PSV to a 25th Eredivisie championship.

[52] De Jong received his first call-up for the Netherlands senior team for a friendly against Austria on 9 February 2011, making his debut in the same match, replacing Dirk Kuyt.

[citation needed] He scored his first international goal on 6 September 2011, in a 2–0 win during the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying game against Finland that secured the Netherlands qualification to the finals.