Early years and PSV

Born in Helmond, North Brabant, Gillhaus started playing professionally for FC Den Bosch, making his Eredivisie debuts in 1983–84 (12 games, three goals), then proceeding to score 33 league goals in his last two seasons combined.

In the 1987 summer, A.C. Milan bought Ruud Gullit from PSV Eindhoven for a world-record transfer fee £6,000,000, and that money was soon used in the acquisition of Gillhaus, Wim Kieft and Søren Lerby. The former netted 15 goals in only 26 games in his first season, helping the Philips club to a historic treble – he appeared 105 minutes in the campaign's European Cup final, a 0–0 penalty shootout win against S.L. Benfica.^[1]

Aberdeen

With the arrival of Brazilian Romário, Gillhaus found himself relegated to a substitute role at PSV. In November 1989, he signed with Aberdeen for £650,000 (3,000,000) in todays money, made an immediate impact on his debut, scoring two goals (including an overhead kick) against Dunfermline Athletic in a 3–0 win at East End Park; this was followed in the next fixture by the game's only goal against Rangers, netting through a left-foot curling shot into the top corner at Pittodrie.^[2]

While with Aberdeen, Gillhaus collected a Scottish Cup winners medal in 1989–90, scoring twice en route to the final against Celtic and starting in decisive match, another penalty shootout triumph.

Late career

Gillhaus left Aberdeen in early March 1993 after falling out of favour with manager Willie Miller, moving to Vitesse Arnhem for £300,000.^[3] He scored a career-best 22 goals in his first full season, as they finished fourth and qualified to the UEFA Cup.

Aged 31, Gillhaus moved abroad again, signing for Gamba Osaka in the Japanese J-League. In 1998, he played in Finland with FF Jaro, and retired at the end of the following season at nearly 36 after helping first club Den Bosch return to the top flight.

Club

International