Marc Overmars

Early career

Overmars began his playing career at local club SV Epe. In 1987, he joined Go Ahead Eagles at the age of 14. After making his breakthrough into the first team, he joined Willem II for ƒ500,000.

Ajax

After one season at Willem II, Overmars signed for Ajax in July 1992. Both clubs settled on a transfer fee of ƒ2.5 million, after Ajax's initial bid of ƒ1.5 million was rejected. Manager Louis van Gaal was very fond of Overmars beforehand and described him as a "multi-functional player". Overmars' debut came in a 3–0 win against Dordrecht on 16 August 1992. His first goal for Ajax was away to RKC Waalwijk in October and he scored a further seven goals in the 1992–93 season. Several teams chose to combat Overmars' threat with heavy tackles; he detested this, adding: "I do not fall on purpose, but if they keep kicking, I would sometimes give something back in return." Ajax finished the campaign third in the league; their form in the final few months was described as "maddening" by football writer David Winner, as they defeated eventual champions Feyenoord by five goals, but dropped points to "minnows like MVV Maastricht". The team lost to Auxerre in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, but did not end the season trophyless – they beat Heerenveen 6–2 to win the KNVB Cup. Overmars scored two goals in the final. Ajax began the 1993–94 season with a 4–0 defeat of Feyenoord to lift the Dutch Supercup; Overmars scored the team's fourth goal. In August 1993,…

Overmars' first call-up to the Netherlands senior national squad came in February 1993 for a 1994 World Cup qualifier against Turkey. He scored five minutes into his debut, after good play from Wim Jonk. The team went on to win 3–1 and Overmars said the goal was good for his confidence. Dick Advocaat, the manager of the Netherlands, was complimentary of the debutant's performance. In April 1993, Overmars earned the national team a penalty against England after Des Walker fouled him. Peter van Vossen converted the spot kick to complete a comeback for the Netherlands, who had been 2–0 down after 24 minutes. The national team qualified for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in November 1993. Advocaat selected Overmars for the tournament and he featured in all of the Netherlands' five matches. Against the Republic of Ireland in the round of 16, he took advantage of Terry Phelan's header intended for goalkeeper Packie Bonner and sprinted away to set up Dennis Bergkamp to score. The Netherlands were eliminated in the quarter-finals against Brazil; Advocaat deployed Overmars as an extra attacker, but for much of the match he played as one of five in midfield. His corner in the 76th minute was met by Aron Winter and levelled the scores at 2–2 for a brief period – a goal from Branco resolved the match in favour of Brazil. Overmars' performances in the competition led him to be named the best young player of the 1994 World Cup.

In October 1995, he scored a hat-trick for the Netherlands in their…

A diminutive footballer, Overmars in his prime was described as "the archetypal winger", whose speed, vision, two-footedness and dribbling ability meant he was able to get the better of most defenders and either score or assist goals. Indeed, pace and acceleration was an important part of his game and reflective of his nicknames "TGV" and "Roadrunner". Former teammate Emmanuel Petit said his strength lay "... in pushing the ball beyond his marker and darting past him into space to deliver crosses". Former defender Gary Neville opined that Overmars was the best winger he came up against in his time at Manchester United, not least because of his versatility, which was exemplified by Overmars's ability to play on both the left and the right wing, despite being naturally right footed. Football pundit Alan Hansen believed Overmars benefited from a "strange feature of the modern English game" – defenders backing off and allowing him to run until he was in a shooting position. Despite his talent, Overmars was also known to be injury-prone throughout his career.

Overmars was born in Emst, Gelderland, growing up on a family farm with his parents and assisting his grandfather with the potato harvest each year. There were no machines or tractors, so when the time came to extract the potatoes, his family tied a rope around Overmars' waist, connected it to a cart and made him run while they pulled the crop out. His father Ben described him as a "clumsy" child, whose main interest was playing football: "He used to come down 24 stairs to breakfast bouncing a ball on his head." This had an effect on his schoolwork; Overmars was uninterested in school, but did pass "a couple of GCEs". Ben did not know whether he made the effort to take his exams just to please him. As a teenager, Overmars did weight-training which improved his speed. He also attributed his pace to his mother who was quick, but "had no time for sports".