Feyenoord in 2012|alt=|left|256x256px De Vrij played for local
Ouderkerk aan den IJssel club VV Spirit for five seasons. At the age of 10, he attended a
Feyenoord talent day. After various training sessions and a friendly match against ARC, De Vrij was officially asked to join Feyenoord's youth division. De Vrij made his official debut for Feyenoord's first team on 24 September 2009, when he replaced
Kelvin Leerdam in the 58th minute in the
KNVB Cup away match against
Harkemase Boys (0–5). On 6 December 2009, De Vrij made his Eredivisie debut in the home match against
Groningen (3–1), when he replaced
Denny Landzaat in the 89th minute. Aged 18 by its end, his first professional season saw him make 21 appearances, 17 of which were in the league. During the 2012–13 season, De Vrij replaced
Ron Vlaar as team captain. However, after a poor run of form in the following campaign, De Vrij was stripped of his armband as it was given first to star striker
Graziano Pellè and then to vice-captain
Jordy Clasie after the former struggled with disciplinary issues.
Lazio On 30 July 2014, De Vrij joined
Serie A club
Lazio for an undisclosed fee. He said: "Lazio really proved that they wanted me and I am very happy I have made this move. I hope to become a more complete defender in Italy." De Vrij had been widely expected to follow his international manager
Louis van Gaal to
Manchester United. He made his debut on 24 August in the third round of the
Coppa Italia, and scored the third goal of a 7–0 home win over third-tier
Bassano Virtus. A week later, he played his first Serie A match as Lazio began the season with a 3–1 defeat to
Milan. On 21 September, he was sent off in the 85th minute of a game away to
Genoa which Lazio had been dominating, and two minutes later
Mauricio Pinilla scored the only goal to give Genoa victory. De Vrij featured in the
2015 Coppa Italia Final on 20 May against
Juventus, being substituted for
Keita at half time in extra time in an eventual 2–1 defeat. His second season began with the
2015 Supercoppa Italiana, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–0 loss to
Juventus in
Shanghai. In September, he picked up a knee injury on international duty but was passed fit to play a further match for the Netherlands, infuriating Lazio's medical staff. He did not make a sufficient recovery, and was subjected to an operation the following month. In November, it was confirmed that he would miss the next six months due to the injury. He scored his first goal for the club in Serie A on 11 September 2016 in a 1–1 away draw to
Chievo. In March 2018, Lazio's sporting director Igli Tare announced that De Vrij would be leaving the club on a free transfer in the summer.
Inter Milan in November 2023 Following months of speculation, on 28 May 2018, De Vrij announced that he was going to join
Inter Milan starting on 1 July. On 11 July, he was officially presented as an Inter player, signing a contract until June 2023. De Vrij received squad number 6, and made his competitive debut on 19 August in the opening championship week against
Sassuolo. He scored his first goal for
Nerazzurri one week later, putting his side two goals up against
Torino at home, in an eventual 2–2 draw. In September 2018, De Vrij played his 100th match in
Serie A in the 2–1 home win over Fiorentina. He also made his first
UEFA Champions League appearance in season opener against
Tottenham Hotspur, assisting
Matías Vecino's injury-time winner for a 2–1 home win. De Vrij eventually played 5 out of 6 matches in the competition's
group stage, which saw en early elimination of Inter, instead continuing their European adventure in
knockout phase of
UEFA Europa League. Later on 14 March 2019, in the second leg of Europa League round of 16, De Vrij's wrong ball control resulted fatal for Inter who conceded inside 5 minutes, and eventually lost the game to
Eintracht Frankfurt 1–0 at
San Siro, crashing out of competition 1–0 on aggregate. Three days later, De Vrij scored in the
Derby della Madonnina match against rivals
Milan, helping his team to win 3–2, taking back the third place in championship, and completing the first league double over them since 2011–12 season. On 9 November 2019, in the
2019–20 season, De Vrij made his 50th appearance in all competitions for Inter in a 2–1 league win over
Verona at San Siro. On 8 July 2023, De Vrij extended his contract with the club until 2025. ==International career==