Gregory van der Wiel: everything you need to know about the Arsenal target

By Dan Silver in Football Spy

Published 23:00 20/10/09

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Arsenal are keeping tabs on Ajax defender Gregory van der Wiel , with a view to a possible January move. But what do we know about the Dutchman?

1) Gregory van der Wiel was born in Amsterdam on February 3, 1988. He stands 5'6" in his socks and plays at right-back.

2) Aged 14 he was sent on his way by Ajax for being 'difficult'. Van der Wiel credits the three years he spent playing with Haarlem's considerably less privileged youths as being the making of him.

3) He got his break at Ajax when the club were forced to call-up ringers for a youth international tournament in Italy. Van der Wiel's impressive displays provoked interest from PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, but the defender decided to return and prove himself in Amsterdam instead.

4) He's since spent all of his professional career at Ajax and made his first team debut aged 19-years-old in a 4-1 win at FC Twente in March 2007. He went on to make a further four appearances that season.

5) He won his first piece of silverware the following season, playing in Ajax's Johan Cruijff Schaal victory over PSV Eindhoven. Don't get too excited, though: this is essentially Holland's answer to the Community Shield. Van der Wiel has gone on to play 49 league games for Ajax, scoring three goals in the process.

6) He has seven tattoos to date, the most recent being a motto reminding himself not to judge people on appearances alone. This may be linked to Van der Wiel's penchant for shopping in Zeeman - essentially Holland's equivalent of Primark. "I don’t care. They have good shirts," he reasons.

7) Presumably he didn't get this outrageous clobber from Zeeman, though.

8) He made his international debut on February 11, 2009, coming on as a sub in a friendly victory over Tunisia. The man he replaced is recent Everton signing Johnny Heitinga. He's earned a further four caps since, including a starting berth in Holland's 3-0  victory over Scotland in last March's World Cup qualifier. Presumably Van der Wiel will remember more about his first competitive start than the Scottish fans...

9) Arsenal fans take note: his childhood hero was Robin van Persie. "It's weird man, when I was 15 years old I played on the street with a Van Persie jersey. I always wanted to be Robin. And now, we’re playing in the same team. How cool is that?” Van der Wiel was, of course, talking about playing for the Dutch team, but could his dream be about to come true at club level too?

10) And here's the obligatory YouTube compilation. Complete with horrendous soundtrack... Perhaps turn the volume down before viewing...

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