Ever-present during the Netherlands' near-perfect Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, Gregory van der Wiel is establishing a reputation as one of the most exciting right-backs in football.
Very much a modern full-back, the athletic 24-year-old has been a first-team regular at Ajax for the past four seasons.
He missed three months of the current campaign with a groin injury but returned in the spring and scored the winning goal in a 2-1 success at FC Twente in April that effectively secured the club's second consecutive Dutch title.
Despite his relatively young age, he already has major international tournament experience, having been a starting member of the Dutch side that reached the final at the last World Cup in South Africa, where they lost to Spain.
His performances, inevitably, have attracted the attention of Europe's elite clubs and he agreed to join Valencia on a five-year contract in January, only for the transfer to break down.
Euro 2012 gives him another opportunity to advertise his services and with his contract due to expire in 2013, he has been linked with clubs including Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Roma.
However, while van der Wiel's star is in the ascendant now, his career has not been all plain sailing.
He joined Ajax at the age of seven but was farmed out to satellite club Haarlem at 14 due to behavioural problems and would later admit that the experience forced him to grow up.
The Amsterdam-born player began his career as a right-sided centre-back but was moved to full-back by former Ajax coach Marco van Basten, who saw the potential in deploying the speedy youngster on the flank.
He made his first-team debut aged 19 in March 2007 and forced his way into the starting XI at the dawn of the 2008-09 season, but controversy was never far away.
His international bow came in a friendly against Tunisia in February 2009 but he had to apologise after pulling out of a game against Australia later that year due to concussion, only to then post a picture on Twitter of himself at a rap concert.
He did not exactly sparkle at the World Cup but his consistent performances proved that he was capable of acquitting himself at the highest level and he played every minute of the Netherlands' nine wins and one defeat in qualifying.
Given the paucity of superstar right-backs in the game at the moment, van der Wiel will be mindful that his performances at Euro 2012 could open the door to a move to one of the biggest clubs in the game.
He has previously described the English Premier League as a "perfect" destination, and says he bases his game on that of the archetypal 21st-century right-back, Barcelona's Dani Alves.
"We do have the same style, we both play the whole right flank -- creating combinations, taking a man on, crossing the ball and scoring," he says.
Bert van Marwijk's commitment to continuity suggests that van der Wiel has a long international career ahead of him, particularly as the Holland coach is under contract with the Royal Dutch Football Federation until 2016.
All van der Wiel need worry about, then, is keeping fit, keeping on top of the opposition wingers at Euro 2012, and hoping that Europe's glamour clubs are sitting up and paying attention.
With Germany's Lukas Podolski and Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo among the left-sided forwards he can expect to come up against in Group B, he will certainly have his work cut out.
Source: AFP
