Holland had reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 stylishly and with a game to spare . Practice at Lausanne’s Pontaise stadium two days before their final group match had been cheerful.

The impression that the Dutch squad had a super-abundance of resources was confirmed on the team bus back to their hotel. Only after the journey was well under way did anybody notice that they had set off a man short. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, last out of the dressing room, reached the stadium car park and realised his colleagues had left him behind.

Once or twice in the past two or three years, Huntelaar has heard the suggestion that his career had missed the bus. The weight of goals accumulated through his early 20s in the Dutch Eredivisie, for Ajax Amsterdam and for Heerenveen, marked him out at every transfer window as a target for mightier clubs in more competitive leagues. Until now, those transfers never quite materialised.

Last summer, when he reached 25, was supposed to be the time to spread his wings. But as the oversight by the Dutch in Switzerland implied, there remained doubts. For Holland, he was a squad member, not a first choice at the European championship.

September began with him still an Ajax footballer. Huntelaar watched former Amsterdam colleagues such as Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart join the growing Dutch colony at Real Madrid. They finally called Huntelaar at the end of last year, with the team sliding down the Spanish league and the most reliable goalscorer, Ruud van Nistelrooy, injured. He could miss the rest of the season and Huntelaar may step into the breach as early as this afternoon, when Madrid meet Villarreal at the Bernabeu.

At his presentation, Huntelaar came across as polite, grounded and very much the quiet young man whom one Dutch reporter described as inclined to answer a question with a six-word answer, at most. He managed half-a-dozen words in Spanish, though, which is a good deal more than some of Madrid’s recent signings from northern Europe.

As Alfredo Di Stefano, the club’s honorary president, oversaw the ceremony, some supporters shouted: “We want Cristiano!” Huntelaar, who cost £20m, is conspicuously not Cristiano Ronaldo, the signing that Madrid president Ramon Calderon all but promised supporters.

Huntelaar resists comparison with Van Nistelrooy, too, although their careers trace uncanny parallels. Both come from provincial backgrounds and made their reputations at Heerenveen, from where Van Nistelrooy joined PSV Eindhoven. Huntelaar was a trainee at PSV when Van Nistelrooy left for Manchester United in 2001.

The idea that Huntelaar might one day serve the Eindhoven club as effectively was not, however, widely shared by staff there. He made only one appearance at PSV. They let him go out on loan at 20 years old. In time, PSV would regret their failure to recognise Huntelaar’s astute finishing. He went initially to De Graafschap, then dropped down a division in a loan spell with AGOVV Apeldoorn and began to score prolifically.

From there he chose to join Heerenveen rather than stay with PSV, scoring 34 goals in 46 matches in his first 18 months in the Eredivisie. Ajax signed him in January 2006, he finished top scorer in the Dutch top-flight and made his debut for Holland that summer in a friendly against Ireland. His record for his country is excellent with 10 goals in 16 games.

Now, in Madrid, the two men’s paths cross again. But while Van Nistelrooy arrived with a gilded reputation, Huntelaar’s tally, 136 league goals from 183 games in Holland, must be considered at an inferior rate of exchange. The Dutch Eredivisie is not La Liga or the Premier League. It is a league where Dirk Kuyt could be almost three times as prolific for Feyenoord as he is for Liverpool. Huntelaar says he expects a more competitive level in Spain. Yet he is not obliged to say it will be a shock: his record shows 20 goals from 30 games for his Dutch clubs in European competitions.

Figures approaching those will be needed to win over Madridistas because Huntelaar’s game is not designed to seduce them with what he does outside the penalty area. His assets are two good feet and well-directed headers in and around the box. The same used to be said of Van Nistelrooy at Manchester United, though playing in Spain has uncovered a longer-range expertise. Huntelaar may develop likewise. If not, he runs the risk of the same sneering attitude that Michael Owen experienced. Owen scored regularly enough in Madrid, but critics still complained he did little else other than finish.

Madridistas can be a picky lot. The defence of the league title is all but over and they approach next month’s tie against Liverpool in the Champions League with trepidation. They will make up their mind quickly about Huntelaar because of a peculiar set of circumstances around his arrival.

He joins at the same time as Lassana Diarra, the midfielder from Portsmouth. Because each man has played in the Uefa Cup this season, only one can be registered with Madrid for the Champions League. Coach Juande Ramos must choose between the Dutch striker and the French anchor by January 31, on the basis of their league displays. Klaas and Lass, as Diarra likes to be known, find themselves plunged straight into a popularity contest neither had expected.