10 Players Who Did Nothing At Arsenal (But Excelled For Their Country)
2. Giovanni van Bronckhorst
With Emmanuel Petit having left Highbury, a void needed to be filled in the centre of midfield at the start of the 01/02 season. Having signed Rangers man Giovanni van Bronckhorst from Rangers in a £8.5 million deal, Arsene Wenger must have thought he had bagged the perfect partner to complement Patrick Vieira in the centre. However, his time in the capital was marred by a cruciate knee ligament injury which restricted him to just 41 inconsistent league appearances in two seasons before being farmed out on loan to Barcelona for the 03/04 season. For Holland, however, he has been indispensable. Having made his debut for the dutch in August 1996, van Bronckhorst went on to make 106 appearances for his country. While he was part of the 1998 World Cup squad, he saw no game-time and only saw limited action at Euro 2000, but his breakthrough as Hollands number one left-back arrived during Euro 2004 under Dick Advocaat. Van Bronckhorst impressed with a series of impressive displays as the Dutch reached the semi-finals, and he proved to be a mainstay in the starting XI for the next six years. The Dutch once again came unstuck against the Portuguese in the 2006 World Cup, with the Barcelona left-back receiving his marching orders in a bad-tempered game that saw a record four red cards dished out. During Euro 2008, he scored and assisted in a 3-0 thumping of world champions Italy during a Euro 2008 clash, as Holland cruised into the next round. Following Edwin van der Sars pre-tournament announcement that he would retire after Euro 2008, van Bronckhorst was selected as the new captain of the side. Having scored a wonder-strike against the Uruguayans in the World Cup semi-final two years later, van Bronckhorst led out his country for the last time in the final.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.