Joost Van Aken

[@owlstalk]

 

"The injuries contributed to the fact that I played little," said van Aken in an interview with Dutch radio station NH Nieuws last month.

 

"Last summer I rejoined the group after surgery. I was not the first choice in my position.
 

"I had not played football for a long time and wanted to go to a club where there was a good chance that I would play weekly.
 

"I was not waiting to be on the bench or the grandstand every game."

[lanzaroteowl]

I would like to think that there is a footballer in there.

£4M spent on him.

Not showed too much yet but we will be short of bodies come summer. 

[Bluesteel]

I thought he looked a bit better and more physical up at Sunderland in the cup pre injury. 

[Tea Baggins]

He started epic, remember the Cardiff away game, some of the cross field passes were sublime.

 

The loss at home to that lot is what broke him.

 

I'd like to think there is a player in there and someone like Borner could help him bring it out as he can relate to him now having both played in Germany and he can explain the comparisons and differences.

 

I'd like to think this isn't the end for the lad.

[Nero]

Worst signing ever. 4m for an untried player who even a fan, never mind a scout, could have seen had a basic deficiency in his inability to turn.

Never mind his other weaknesses such as positioning and reading of the game which maybe could have been coached out of him.

4 bloody mil........

[sheriwozgod]

I was told by someone supposedly "ITK" that the fee we paid was £2.5M...……..which was still too much based on what I have seen so far I might add.

Edited May 14, 2020 by sheriwozgod

[striker]

Agree, the injury situation pretty much killed his first season with us, that said showed glimpses of promise but a fair share of being a liability. 

 

There is opportunity for him, Lees been average for a couple of seasons and being a natural left footer, competition for Borners place. 

 

Hopefully a full season on loan gives Monk an idea about him. With Van Aken, Lees and Urhoghide have sufficient cover at CB (in a summer where recruitment of other areas far more urgent)

[StudentOwl]

As sure as night follows day, a Joost van Aken thread will see post after post of people perpetuating the "he cost £4m" myth that was invented on here 

 

For the 642nd time: It was closer to half that price.

Is it still too much? Sure.

But one should be able to make the argument "he cost too much" without resorting to a lie. 

[trev]

I know this has been said before...about a lot of our players.

 

But I can see him making a decent defensive midfielder.

 

He used to play in midfield and on the wing and he clearly has ability on the ball.

 

I just can't see him ever being physical enough to be a central defender. But maybe as a deep lying midfielder he could use his undoubted passing ability to better effect.

 

Or...he could just not be very good.

[marshy]

There have been some far more "expensive" flops in football that JVA regardless of what he actually cost. Yes he's prone to a few mistakes, but show me one just one of our players who isn't. The problem comes when they're not really given a solid run of games and all you end up focussing on were the bad ones. Personally, I don't rate him, but I'm wondering if there is a player in there somewhere.

[lanzaroteowl]

13 minutes ago, StudentOwl said:

As sure as night follows day, a Joost van Aken thread will see post after post of people perpetuating the "he cost £4m" myth that was invented on here 

 

For the 642nd time: It was closer to half that price.

Is it still too much? Sure.

But one should be able to make the argument "he cost too much" without resorting to a lie. 

 

Pretty sure the £4M tag was from the local media.

[@owlstalk]

23 minutes ago, Nero said:

Worst signing ever.

 

 

Bit hysterical that really mate

 

 

[StudentOwl]

2 minutes ago, lanzaroteowl said:

 

Pretty sure the £4M tag was from the local media.

No it wasn't.

 

Dutch media had it at €4m all in... that was a fee that included appearance bonuses and a bonus upon winning promotion. €4m at the time was ~£3.2m. So £3.2m all in including promotion bonus and appearance bonus. Quite how those fees broke down and what % they made up the £3.2m is guesswork, but you could make a reasonable case that that means the up-front fee was anywhere from £2m to £3m. So, guesstimate of c.£2.5m... relatively speaking it's nowhere near £4m.

 

The £4m came from one of either room0035 or McRightSide on here (can't remember)... where from about the beginning of October to the end of November 2017 he started with "I can't believe we wasted £3m on him" and then incrementally and slowly increasing how much we paid for him until he got to £4m. For some reason, everyone believes we paid £4m for him. I think it's because fans fell out of love with him very quickly and the natural pessimism kicked in. 

 

[Sefton owl]

44 minutes ago, GHS said:

He started epic, remember the Cardiff away game, some of the cross field passes were sublime.

 

The loss at home to that lot is what broke him.

 

I'd like to think there is a player in there and someone like Borner could help him bring it out as he can relate to him now having both played in Germany and he can explain the comparisons and differences.

 

I'd like to think this isn't the end for the lad.

Its all well and good saying there is a ‘player in there’. High level professional football is ruthless and I don’t think we should be giving someone 3 years plus to prove themselves, injuries aside. 
 

If there was a player in there, his time here shouldn’t be judged on that 1 game against united. His form clearly wasn’t good enough, otherwise we would have stayed in sheffield and played more regularly. 

[adelphi1867]

How many players have Dem Blades bought recently and stuck them in the development squad to learn how they play?.

JVA is a victim of our lack of forward planning.

[@owlstalk]

I know it's unfashionable but I like Van Aken.

I reckon he just needs to acclimatise to the Hillsborough crowd etc

[Morepork]

I think he was weighed down by the expectation that came with the knowledge of being our 102nd choice CB in that transfer window.......

Edited May 14, 2020 by Morepork

[Guest wilyfox]

Be interesting to see what happens with him. He's had a 'mare here. Has ability on the ball, and his height & mobility are an asset. But, needs to stay fit and get to grips with the raw nuts'n bolts of defending to stand half a chance in his final year. 

[sweetsheri]

Scariest thing is he was chosen out of 200 CB's scouted...

 

We must have been scouting the Meadowhall league

[Dutch McLovin]

47 minutes ago, trev said:

I know this has been said before...about a lot of our players.

 

But I can see him making a decent defensive midfielder.

 

He used to play in midfield and on the wing and he clearly has ability on the ball.

 

I just can't see him ever being physical enough to be a central defender. But maybe as a deep lying midfielder he could use his undoubted passing ability to better effect.

 

Or...he could just not be very good.

This is exactly right. For his passing alone he would have been much better in a DM role than Joey Pelupessey.

 

If we had a good coach (we haven't in Monk im hoping he's first out of the door) I believe a bit of work could produce a decent deep lying midfielder.