Clubs: FC Groningen, PSV Eindhoven, Chelsea FC, Real Madrid CF, FC Bayern München

UEFA honours
UEFA Champions League: runner-up 2010
UEFA.com users' Team of the Year: 2011

• Demonstrated considerable early talent at Groningen and though bought by PSV in 2001, he remained with his first club for another 12 months.

• Won the Eredivisie in his first season at PSV, scoring 12 goals; voted Talent of the Year at the 2003 Dutch PFA awards, ahead of Wesley Sneijder.

• Made his Netherlands debut in the same game as Sneijder – a friendly against Portugal on 30 April 2003; his major tournament bow came at UEFA EURO 2004, where he scored the winning penalty in a quarter-final shoot-out with Sweden, and was also on song for Oranje at 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2008.

• Joined Chelsea in 2004 and though his debut was delayed due to injury, he made a major impact when fit, winning two Premier League titles and three domestic cups.

• Became Madrid's fourth most expensive signing after arriving for €35m in 2007; won the Spanish title in his first season but departed at the end of the second, transferring to Bayern for €25m.

• Scored a career-best 16 league goals in his first campaign, winning the Bundesliga and German Cup − in which he opened the scoring − but lost to FC Internazionale Milano in the UEFA Champions League final; named German footballer of the year in August 2010.

• Played five games, scoring two goals, as the Netherlands reached the 2010 World Cup final, losing to Spain in the Johannesburg showpiece; a torn thigh muscle diagnosed upon his return to Bayern in August ruled him out until early 2011.