Brighton and Hove Albion defender Jan Paul van Hecke has detailed how the club’s scouting system picked him out, and the plan they put in place for him, which has worked out completely as they said it would.
Van Hecke has been speaking to Voetbal International about his time at Brighton so far, after joining the Seagulls in a €2m deal in September 2020.
He joined Brighton that summer after a year spent playing for NAC Breda in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie, the Dutch second tier.
He was initially loaned back to the Netherlands with Heerenveen before then returning to Brighton before joining Blackburn Rovers on a season-long deal in the Championship.
That deal ended last year, and he remained with Brighton, spending a season as a bit part player under Roberto de Zerbi before establishing himself more firmly in the first team so far this season.
It’s been clear step by step progress for the defender, who has revealed that was always the plan, in comments detailing how Brighton found him in the first place.
“Brighton has devised a whole system about the way of playing, but also about the way of scouting,” he said.
“Players have to fit into the system. And in scouting it is one of the best clubs in the world. They also came to me through that system. That sounded a bit crazy, actually. A Premier League club starting a long-term project with a defender from the Kitchen Champion Division.
“The whole plan was worked out systematically. So, they select through a colour system. Red, orange, green, the list goes on. And if you fall into that green area, they will look. Even if you are active at a lower level, you can be in the club’s field of view in a certain way.
‘I also thought: Premier League? Many people think that you are being used as a commodity, but in this case the picture was correct.
“I was going to play one year in the Eredivisie, then one year in the Championship and then one year of getting used to the Premier League. That was drawn out. And that turned out pretty well, didn’t it?”
