Brighton and Hove Albion have a potential star of the future on their hands in Jan Paul van Hecke, at least according to former teammate Othmane Boussaid.
Boussaid has been speaking to Voetbal Primeur’s Atlas Leeuwen podcast about his career to date, when he was keen to praise the Brighton man.
Van Hecke has been with the Seagulls since joining them in a €2m deal from NAC Breda in 2020 but spent the first years with the club out on loan, first joining Heerenveen and then Blackburn.
He returned in 2022 and has been a regular member of the first-team squad since, first breaking through under Graham Potter before fully establishing himself under Roberto de Zerbi.
That saw him make 15 appearances last season, a tally he’s already surpassed this season, with 22 appearances to his name already and over double the amount of minutes as well.
He’s very much considered a key player for the future and is demonstrating he’s worthy of that status, and Boussaid is of a similar opinion when it comes to assessing the Brighton defender.
“I really thought Van Hecke was good,” he said.
“I think he played 10, 11 matches, but what he did in those matches was really not normal. Playing football, defending, you just could not get past him.
“I remember when we played against AZ in the quarter-final of the KNVB Cup. They had Idrissi, Boadu and Stengs, but Van Hecke had all those men in his pocket.
“There was a lot of interest in him at the time. Utrecht also wanted him at the time, but he chose Brighton.”
