Born and raised in the Dutch coastal town, Den Haag, Jan-Paul Saeijs started out as an amateur forward, but developed into a centre-back at his first professional club, his home-town ADO Den Haag. Mark Wotte, Southampton’s assistant-manager, who was instrumental in bringing Saeijs to St Mary’s, on loan, took over as manager soon after Jan-Paul’s arrival and played him, unchanged, at centre-back for the rest of the season, as the Saints struggled to climb from 23rd place. Speaking to the match-day programme’s Bob Brunskell, after Wotte’s first game in charge, Jan-Paul explained that he had been accustomed to football being played more on the ground in Holland’s premier division, but was not fazed by the “long ball” tactics in the Championship, “because if the ball is up in the air, it suits me.”

At 6ft 3ins, he was content that one of his “biggest strengths is heading,” but he also hoped that he had “a lot of experience” to pass on to the young players with whom the club’s Dutch managers had to work in that 2008-09 season.

He may be best remembered for two goals at Watford, in early April, the second of which – a 30-yard free-kick in the last minute – earned a point. None of which lifted the Saints up the table. Jan-Paul must rank among best loanees brought to the club in the down-and-up seasons since the 2003 Cup Final, but the arrival of a new owner and manager in the summer of 2009 effectively ruled out a permanent deal. He went home to the Netherlands, where he finished his professional career in 2012 and then returned to HBS Craeyenhout, the third-tier club he’d joined as a six year-old. Jan-Paul now combined playing as an amateur with working as an accounts-manager for the club.