When John made his Holland debut against the USA in February 2004, he became the 99th Ajax player to play for the Oranje.

John has been linked with moves to several top European clubs. In March 2008, he agreed to a move to Spanish giants Atletico Madrid on a five-year deal, and will begin his new career in La Liga in the 2008/09 season.

For his seventh birthday present, John asked his parents to organise a training session with Ajax. They obliged, and he impressed the scouts and youth coaches who signed him up to the club’s academy.

When he was growing up, John was a season-ticket holder at Ajax, and also served as a ball boy at the Amsterdam Arena up until less than a year before he made his first-team debut.

John made his debut for Ajax in the ‘classic’ encounter with traditional rivals Feyenoord in the opening fixture of the 2001/02 season on 26 August 2001. He helped the Amsterdammers to a 2-1 victory, which set them on track for a title-winning campaign.

Although a centre back by preference, John has also played for club and country at right-back, and has even been deployed as a holding midfielder.

Now into his seventh season in the Ajax first team, John has helped them win nine major trophies: two league titles, three KNVB Cups and four Johan Cruyff Shields (the Dutch equivalent of the Community Shield, played between the previous season’s league champions and cup winners).

Despite being sidelined for two long periods with injuries, John has already clocked up over 150 senior appearances for Ajax, and has been a regular pick for Marco van Basten since he took over as Dutch national coach in 2004.

John’s girlfriend, Charlotte Sophie is the sister of fellow Holland international Boudejwin ‘Bolo’ Zenden, the former Liverpool and Chelsea winger.