Netherlands captain Wijnaldum is the type of player every top team, from Liverpool to PSG, needs

As the madness of the Netherlands' opening Euro 2020 match against Ukraine played out on Sunday, Georginio Wijnaldum was one of the Dutch players trying to bring some order to the wonderful chaos.

He put in a captain's performance, too, scoring their opener with a wonderfully taken strike 15 yards out, and later, as the match looked to be slipping away from them as Ukraine came back from two goals down to draw the game level, he slowed the play down, helped refocus his team and was in the thick of the action before Denzel Dumfries headed in the game-winning goal.

Wijnaldum looked exhausted after the 3-2 win, but he'd put in the sort of performance that showed why Barcelona and Bayern Munich inquired about signing the midfielder before he announced he'd join another super-club, Paris Saint-Germain, after his Liverpool contract expires this summer.

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Wijnaldum is an understated captain. He leads by example with a relentless workrate, an incredible ability to read passes and a quiet, consistent leadership. But he's also the sort of player every successful team needs: he's the glue who can cover all three facets of the modern central midfielder, comfortable as the holder, the presser or the attacking No. 10. That's why Liverpool desperately wanted to keep him and why, for all the hype over his future, it wouldn't have affected his focus on Oranje duties at all.

If you looked at Frank de Boer's inbox before the Euros, any concerns over Wijnaldum weren't high on his pre-tournament panic list. Instead, he dealt with Matthijs de Ligt's groin injury suffered in training, the absence of Virgil van Dijk and the criticism of his preferred 5-3-2 formation over the traditional Dutch 4-3-3. There were question marks over who'd start in goal and what combination of forwards would be used up front, but the ever-dependable Wijnaldum was never a concern. His importance is further told through his stats: In his past eight Netherlands matches, he has scored five goals and has two assists.

Wijnaldum has already bid farewell to Liverpool, too, receiving a guard of honour in their final home match against Crystal Palace on May 23 and a plaque recognising his success with the Reds, including the Champions League and Premier League title he helped win in his five-year spell at the club.

"It was very emotional," Wijnaldum told ESPN. "I didn't think I would get this kind of goodbye. Players that left before me did not get something like this.

"Of course, it's a pity I left Liverpool. I had a lot of beautiful memories with the team. My relationship with the fans is really good. It is what it is. One day I'll tell my story about how it all went. In that way, the fans will understand why I left the club."

Wijnaldum, 30, was unwilling to expand further, but in an interview with Voetbal International, he said "things happen behind the scenes that are beyond your control as a player." That can wait.

Growing up, Wijnaldum wanted to be an acrobat, but it was in football where he found his calling. Having come through Sparta Rotterdam's system, he moved to Feyenoord's academy in 2004. He still holds the record as the youngest-ever Feyenoord player, debuting at 16 years and 148 days in their Eredivisie match against Groningen on April 8, 2007. He was named Man of the Match.

From talking to those who have watched Wijnaldum develop, the consensus is that he was never one to cause controversy, instead staying close to his grandmother, Francina, who raised him.

Gertjan Verbeek managed Feyenoord for part of the 2008-09 season, and remembers Wijnaldum at 17.

"It was early in his career," Verbeek tells ESPN. "He was a great talent. He was always smiling, even in the hardest training sessions. He was so young, but he already had a lot of responsibility. The influence of his grandmother was very important for him, too. He took care of his grandmother, and his grandmother took care of him and his brothers."

Verbeek remembers what Wijnaldum was like around the older pros in a Feyenoord team that had respected Dutch internationals. "He was very stable in thinking and in what he wanted to achieve, and how to do it. We had big names in that squad like Roy Makaay and Giovanni van Bronckhorst, but even though he was 17, when he spoke, they listened. Great players understand the young talented players as they respect each other."

At Feyenoord he was used both as an attacking midfielder and a makeshift striker. He eventually settled into central midfield, where his performances led to PSV securing a £5m transfer in 2011. There, he helped them to the 2015 Eredivisie title, forming a wonderful understanding with Memphis Depay; the pair will hopefully lead the Dutch to success this summer. When he won the Golden Boot in 2015, the award for the Dutch Player of the Year, he tearfully paid tribute to his grandma, who presented him with the trophy.

In July 2015, he made the switch to Newcastle United for £14.5m. After an impressive individual season in which Newcastle were relegated, Liverpool brought him in the following summer for £23m. He quickly became a key cog in the Reds' midfield under Jurgen Klopp, scoring two essential goals from the bench in their remarkable Champions League semifinal win over Barcelona in 2019.