Vissel Kobe centre back Thomas Vermaelen has enjoyed a relatively good football career till date. His professional football career has taken him to several countries from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom to Spainto Italy and now Japan. He became a prominent player when Arsenal signed him from Dutch champions Ajax Amsterdam in the summer of 2009. The Gunners paid an initial fee of €10m to sign Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax Amsterdam. The contract that took him to Arsenal had an extra €2m in add-ons. Thomas Vermaelen has played for one Premier League team in his career and that’s Arsenal. He was at the club for five years before the Gunners cashed in on him in a £15m deal to Spanish giants Barcelona. Thomas Vermaelen left the Gunners at a time when he had several injury problems.
Thomas Vermaelen made a great start to his debut as an Arsenal player during the Gunners’ league opener at the start of the 2009/10 campaign. The 35-year-old utility defender can play either as a centre back or as a left-back and it took him just 37 minutes to score on his debut for Arsenal in a league game at Everton. Vermaelen scored one of the goals as the Gunners thrashed their hosts 6-1. He would go on to score two goals in the 4-0 thumping of WiganAthletic. His performances in the first few games of that season was enough for Arsenal fans to vote Thomas Vermaelen as the best player for the August 2009. In his first season at Arsenal, Thomas Vermaelen netted eight times in 45 games in all competitions and his form earned him a place in the PFA Team of the Year at the end of the 2009/10 season. He would go on to become the Arsenal skipper after the exit of Robin Van Persie to Manchester United in 2012. Vermaelen was his deputy before the Dutchman left for Old Trafford. Thomas Vermaelen was the Gunners skipper for two years and he was the player that lifted the FA Cup trophy at the end of the 2013/14 season when Arsenal ended their nine-year wait for a major trophy by coming from behind to beat Hull City 3-2 in the final played at the Wembley Stadium.