Although there are big questions over the quality of Aberdeen’s recruitment over the last two windows and a tear-it-up-and-start-again rebuild to come, attacker Vicente Besuijen is at least looking like solid business.
The Colombian-born Dutchman, 21, was the first signing pinpointed by new head of recruitment Darren Mowbray, and the Dons paid around £400,000 to land him from ADO Den Haag in January.
Still very much a developing talent, wideman/striker Besuijen arrived in the north-east having made 30 appearances in the Dutch Eredivisie in 2020/21.
Over half a season in the second tier with relegated Den Haag before the turn of the year, he had scored six times and provided 10 assists across 25 appearances.
There was clear pedigree, but Besuijen arrived at Aberdeen at a challenging time, given the trials and tribulations at the club over recent months – including the departure of Stephen Glass and appointment of new manager Jim Goodwin.
However, across his 14 appearances, Besuijen looks to have found his feet and – in the second half of the Dons’ vital 1-0 win over bottom side Dundee at Pittodrie on Saturday to all-but-secure Premiership safety – he showed the influence he can have.
Aberdeen were SO much better in the second half – when they started getting the ball wide and crosses into the box. Vicente was easily the most influential player on the park.
— Ryan Cryle (@RyanCryle) April 30, 2022
Although the Dons had struggled in the opening 45 minutes – due to very nervy defending and futile attempts to carve out a chance through the middle – there had been a fleeting glimpse of Besuijen’s talents when he did an excellent job of wriggling to the byeline on the right before just missing striker Christian Ramirez with a centered ball.
Then, with the Reds working it wide to Besuijen on the left time and again after the break, he was getting plenty of change out of Dees’ right-back Cammy Kerr with his running and trickery – and it looked written he would produce the moment which would see Aberdeen break the deadlock.
But, despite Besuijen’s increasing influence as the game wore on, one criticism which could be levelled at him is his crossing wasn’t quite there. Although he did deliver another sumptuous ball across the face of goal which a slightly more eager, early-season Ramirez might have reached, he also sent other crosses too long or too high for his team-mates.
The diminutive Dutch master had a great chance to score himself (2.20-ish in the highlights package above), but took one too many touches before firing the ball wide of the far post.
Ultimately, it was Jonny Hayes’ running on the other side which earned Aberdeen the penalty Lewis Ferguson converted to win the game – however, this shouldn’t take away from a performance from Besuijen which hinted at what could be to come over the next few seasons, if he can tie it all together consistently.
This exchange sums it up:
Agreed, but needs to improve his final ball.
— Robbie Swanson (@bobbygeorge74) April 30, 2022
But it is clear Besuijen is trending in the right direction to be a key man for Aberdeen going forward – and we’re about to prove it.
Stats show Besuijen is getting better with every game
To back up the notion Besuijen’s performance have improved week-to-week since his arrival at Pittodrie, we took a look at his key attacking stats over the 14 matches he’s been involved in.
He has played the full 90 minutes in all-but-one of those fixtures (St Johnstone, February 15), so the data is strong.
Take a look at these interactive graphs showing Besuijen’s touches and passes in the games in question…
His touches (and touches in the opposition box) have generally been increasing:
Meanwhile, this graph on his passing is the clearest example of week-to-week improvement in a specific area:
Making those dribbles count
Besuijen’s dribbling stats are contained in the graphic below.
It shows he only completed two against Dundee, having attempted five – which is a decent outcome and comparable to his success rate in some other matches this term.
This 40% success rate is his highest since he completed 60% of his runs against Celtic on February 9.
He has only completed a higher percentage of dribbles in that Celtic game and the Ross County clash eight days earlier (50%) – his debut. In other games, he’s tried to do it on his own far more times but failed more times, too.
The numbers suggest a player who is now making better decisions on when to pass, and when to run it.
Looking at the Celtic and Ross County games where he had a higher successful dribble percentage, his passing stats for those games were way down on what he managed against Dundee at the weekend.
It’s clear he’s finding a best balance of his Dons career to this point.
End product?
As mentioned above, Besuijen could improve his final ball.
Against Dundee, he was judged by Opta to have sent in one ‘successful’ cross, from three attempts.
Although you’d like to see more successful crosses, of course, it was a better hit rate than the last few outings from the Dutchman:
Finally, here’s a look at Besuijen’s shots (he’s scored twice so far) and chances created over his 14 games for the Dons:
As the graph above shows, there have been peaks and troughs, but – in his last two outings – Besuijen has recorded his best and tied second-best shot count, while, against Dundee, he also created the most chances he has in a game since his arrival.
Keep it up, Vinny.
Vicente Besuijen bringing a bit of Dutch flair and technique to Pittodrie! 😎#cinchPrem | @AberdeenFC pic.twitter.com/psAB0kp0un
— SPFL (@spfl) March 21, 2022
