Vilhena Returns to Eredivisie with Willem II After Turbulent Abroad Spell

Tonny Vilhena is coming home.

The former Feyenoord midfielder is set to return to the Eredivisie with newly promoted Willem II, with VI reporting that the 31-year-old will join from Panathinaikos after a stop-start year in Greece.

He barely featured for the Athens club last season, making only three appearances. For a player who once dictated midfields in Rotterdam and carried the tag of Dutch international, that was never going to be enough. Willem II, gearing up for a survival fight after climbing back into the top flight, see opportunity where Panathinaikos saw surplus.

They are getting experience. A lot of it.

Vilhena grew up at Feyenoord and became part of the club’s fabric. He played 258 games in red and white, scoring 41 goals and maturing from academy talent into a central figure in their midfield. In 2019 he chose a different path, swapping De Kuip for Russia and signing with Krasnodar.

That move opened a long tour of Europe. At Krasnodar he made 79 appearances and scored nine times, before heading to Spain in January 2022. Espanyol first took him on loan, then made the deal permanent that summer, adding his energy and range to La Liga.

The journey did not stop there. After a season on loan in Italy with Salernitana, Vilhena moved again, this time to Panathinaikos in the summer of 2023. He played 44 games for the Greek side, a solid workload that suggested he had settled.

Then the carousel spun once more.

For the 2024/2025 campaign he was loaned to Turkish club Alanyaspor for six months, where he featured 15 times and scored twice. On his return to Panathinaikos, the message was clear: he was no longer in their plans.

Willem II, back among the elite and determined not to slip straight back to the second tier, now offer him a way back into Dutch football and a league he knows intimately. For a promoted side searching for top-flight know-how and leadership in midfield, Vilhena’s profile fits the need.

For the player, it is a full-circle moment. For Willem II, it could be the signing that steadies their season.