When [[Arhur Numan]] went off to [[Glasgow Rangers]] at the end of the 1999-2000 season, Bouma was moved to left-back where he had to compete with Danish international [[Jan Heintze]].
With the {{Wc|2002}} qualificationqualifiers entering its crucial stages, Bouma was chosen to represent the Dutch national team and was handed his international debut against the [[Republic of Ireland]] on [[September 2]] [[2000]]. In the {{Ec2|2004}} tournament in [[Portugal]], he was chosen by [[Dick Advocaat]] to play as a central defender and he has also retained that spot while playing for PSV under [[Guus Hiddink]] in the 2004-2005 season. Just before the closing of the international [[transfer window]], Bouma signed for Aston Villa on [[30 August]] [[2005]] for £3.5m.
