Arthur Numan (born 14 December 1969 in
Heemskerk,
North Holland) is a retired
Dutch footballer. He played as a left back and was a regular fixture in
Netherlands national football team. He is currently the team manager for the Netherlands B squad and
Aston Villa FC Scout.
Club career
Early career
He started his career with the amateur club SV Beverwijk and was spotted by
Haarlem, who handed him his first professional game against DS '79 on 26 March 1988 which his team won 2–0. He originally played in a more attacking role, but his long-time mentor
Dick Advocaat, then the coach of
Haarlem, positioned him as a left fullback.
PSV Eindhoven
Numan joined
Twente at the close of the 1990–91 season where he has scored goals even as a defender. He was named team captain for the
Enschede team and also captained the
Dutch Under 21 national team. However, it was not until he joined
PSV Eindhoven that his talents were fully appreciated. He was drafted into the Dutch team for a World Cup qualifying game against
Poland which ended in a 2–2 draw on 14 October 1992. Numan was substituted after forty minutes by Advocaat, who was then the national team coach and brought on PSV teammate
Gerald Vanenburg as his team was 2–0 down early in the game.
Rangers
A £4.5 million deal took him to
Rangers in May 1998, but Numan's time in Scotland was then blighted by injuries that forced him to sit out many games. Dick Advocaat, who managed the...
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