[2] Following successful development in Vitesse's youth team, he was promoted to the main squad for the final few games of the 2002–03 Eredivisie.

In the 2004–05 Eredivisie, he helped his club reach a credible seventh place in the league contributing four goals in 21 appearances.

[citation needed] His return came in the 2008–09 Eredivisie season, where he played a pivotal role in midfield along with David Mendes da Silva, Demy de Zeeuw and Maarten Martens to claim AZ's second league title in their history.

[6] Following excellent displays during his first few months with Sporting, he attracted interest from several big European clubs of which included Barcelona and Olympique de Marseille.

He helped Sporting reach the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League semi final stage where they lost to Athletic Bilbao, 4–3 on aggregate.

[11] Following the start of the 2012–13 Primeira Liga, he suffered an injury, for which he received surgery, which led him to miss several league, cup and European games.

[16] His debut for the national team came on 16 August 2006, as he started in a friendly versus Republic of Ireland which the Netherlands won 4–0.

[17] On 27 May 2010, Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk announced that the player would be part of the final squad of 23 participating in the competition.