Position: Midfielder
Born: 22.04.77
Club: Barcelona

Mark van Bommel was widely regarded as the best midfielder in the Dutch league before his move to Barcelona last summer.

After opening his professional career with Fortuna Sittard, his ability to boss the midfield and his trademark long-range piledrivers earned him a move to giants PSV Eindhoven in 1999.

Whilst at the Philips Stadium he won four league titles and in 2004/2005 he was named Dutch Player of the Year after netting 14 league goals.

It was an open secret that he would join Barcelona at the end of that season, and he duly did on a free transfer.

Van Bommel sat out Euro 2004 with an Achilles injury and with the Dutch missing out on World Cup 2002, this will be his first major tournament. It has been a long time coming for one of Europe's top midfielders.