The 26-year-old Afellay is regularly deployed on the wing by La Liga giants Barcelona but prefers to play more centrally, in behind the centre forward.

With Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart also vying for the trequarista role in the Dutch side, Van Marwijk intends to employ Afellay on the wing, but with the licence to move infield at every opportunity.

"One of the best ever No.10s, Zidane, always played at Real Madrid coming in from the left," the Netherlands boss told Algemeend Dagblad.

"In their hearts, they all want, ideally, to play as a 10 - the Van der Vaarts, the Sneijders and the Afellays.

"But if you play in the centre, you often have to play with your back to you opponent. He (Afellay) has shown that he is excellent in that role for the Oranje.

"But on the wing is different, and you can go either way. You can go inside or outside the opponent and give a pass. Afellay has to be convinced."

Netherlands kick off their Euro 2012 campaign against Denmark on June 9 before then facing Germany and Portugal.