When remembering Dutch ball-playing centre-backs, the illustrious names of Ronald Koeman, Frank Rijkaard,  and Virgil Van Dijk leap to mind.

You’d be forgiven if the lesser heralded Arjan De Zeeuw escaped your memory unless you’re a Barnsley, Wigan or Portsmouth fan of course. Having hung up his boots in 2009 and now very much into his post-football career, De Zeeuw has swapped clean sheets for ‘rap sheets’, landing himself a role as an investigative detective specialising in forensics. 

For those that would like their memory jogged some more, he most notably played for Paul Jewell’s Wigan in the mid-2000s, alongside the likes of Jimmy Bullard, Pascal Chimbonda, and Jason Roberts.

A cultured centre back, with an intimidating presence – De Zeeuw wasn’t daunted by the stars of the Premier League and carved a respectable career in the UK, racking up 146 Premier League appearances and helping his sides maintain 32 clean sheets. 

Having recently celebrated his 50th birthday, the former player plied his forensic skills in his local town of Alkmaar in his native Netherlands. Prior to a career in football, De Zeeuw completed a doctorate in medical science – a vocation in medicine seemed to wait for him but he never counted on his footballing career being so long and fruitful.

In an article with The Guardian back in 2005, a then 35-year-old De Zeeuw said;

"I was only supposed to be taking a little break to play football…I've had to stop making plans because they keep being interrupted by clubs and moves."

When asked on the issue of going back to school after retirement, he added: "I've got a minimum of two years in house ships to do and anything up to six years if I specialise in orthopaedics."

The time taken to complete the courses proved to a deterrent and is what eventually steered him into forensics; "I like the idea of justice and making trying to make the world a more equal place for everyone" he says.  When asked if there were any instances of him applying his football skills to his new policing skills, De Zeeuw recounts, “once there was a guy who we wanted to talk to who then fled the scene, I more or less chased him. Then after about a minute he stopped with his hands on knees, couldn’t go on anymore and was like – ‘you might as well take me’. So my football training came in handy there, I certainly had enough pace to keep up!"