Hasselbaink up and down in the market – but he brought in Nasser and Tom
THERE is not a football manager alive who gets every transfer right, in or out, loans or permanent and, of course, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is no exception.
But with the January transfer window in its first week and Hasselbaink also in his first week as Burton Albion manager for the second time, it could be crucial who he adds or who he lets go in search of a formula that might give the Brewers a chance of staying in League One.
The Dutchman quickly stated that his first priority is to improve the players he has, or at least get them back playing towards the level many of them have previously shown they are capable of.
That is commendable because we have seen before that making wholesale changes to a playing staff rarely gives a reshaped team time enough to gel to get out of trouble.
More coaches, you might think, should prove their mettle by improving what they have rather than just splashing the cash.
That said, Hasselbaink also referred to “certain things bubbling in the back of my mind” when asked about possible activity in the transfer market.
The last time he was here, in 2014, Hasselbaink’s transfer dealings covered a wide spectrum: from brilliant – Nasser El Khayati – to pointless. Stefan Maletic, anyone?
Here is a look back at the mixed bag of signings Hassselbaink made during his first spell with the club.
FIRST SEASON:
Kelvin Maynard: Hasselbaink’s first signing, a defender who divided opinion but was starting to impress in his second season when a serious knee injury ended his time with the club. Maynard was shot and killed in Amsterdam in 2019.
Stefan Maletic: Big Belgrade-born centre-half Maletic came with a reputation but also with an injury and never played for the club, although he seemed popular and there is a picture of he and Lucas Akins hugging after the League Two promotion.
Nasser El Khayati: Hasselbaink’s master stroke, El Khayati arrived in January 2015, a complete unknown from the Dutch third division, and immediately wowed supporters with his trickery on the ball. His friendly nature and being seen around the town did his popularity no harm either and although he only scored three goals in 18 appearances, he was very much the last piece in the jigsaw of the League Two promotion team.
He took to League One, too, scoring both goals in a 2-1 away win against Blackpool and reaching nine before, in January, he followed Hasselbaink to Queens Park Rangers.
He mainly sat on the bench for them but followed his time in England with 33 goals in 79 appearances for Den Haag back in Holland.
After a spell in Qatar, he is a free agent at 31 and many fans would love to see him return to the Pirelli Stadium. You never know.
Tom Naylor: Hasselbaink had seen Naylor while observing training at Derby County with Steve McClaren and he went back for him, initially on loan until the end of the season, before Naylor made the move permanent after the League Two promotion.
Naylor became a key man for the Brewers, either in defence or midfield and his late winning goal against Gillingham, which virtually sealed promotion to the Championship, will never be forgotten.
Naylor is now captain of Portsmouth.
Mikael Antonine-Curier: A Guadeloupe international, no less, who was signed from Hamilton Academical and looked off the pace in five scoreless appearances.
Other loans by Hasselbaink that season were more about squad coverage and included goalkeepers Remi Matthews (now with Sunderland) and Scott Shearer, Ivan Calero (from Derby), Callum Reilly and Denny Johnstone (Birmingham City), Jack Dunn, Kevin Stewart (Liverpool) and Florent Cuvelier (Sheffield United).
Mark Duffy was Hasselbaink’s master stroke in the loan market, with tricky wing play and eight goals
SECOND SEASON:
Naylor and Reilly (who is now
with AFC Wimbledon) signed permanently after their loans as Hasselbaink had a busy first summer.
Calum Butcher: A free transfer from Dundee United, Butcher had a part to play in the League One promotion season before leaving for Millwall at the start of the first Championship season, by which time Nigel Clough was manager. After a spell with Mansfield Town, he is now back with Dundee United.
Timmy Thiele: With his glamorous girlfriend, huge dog and great sense of humour, German striker Thiele was very popular with supporters but did not pull up any trees.
Mostly used from the bench, he scored his only goal in a 5-1 win over Colchester United and joked that, like a tomato ketchup bottle, they might now flow.
They did not and a loan spell with Oldham Athletic preceded a return to Germany and Kaiserslautern via a spell with Carl Zeiss Jena.
Anthony O’Connor: He looked a class act as a defender in a loan spell with Burton from Blackburn Rovers three years previously and made 24 appearances in the League One promotion team before leaving for Aberdeen. He has been with Bradford City since June, 2018.
Aurelien Joachim: After the Guadeloupe international the Luxembourg international. Joachim, who has 80 Luxembourg caps and is something of a legend in his home country, has scored goals most places he has been but rarely looked like doing so in seven appearances for Burton.
Tom Flanagan: Though he never wholly won over the supporters, Flanagan can be seen as one of Hasselbaink’s successful signings, arriving from MK Dons and doing well enough in 82 appearances in League One and the Championship to break into the Northern Ireland squad before signing for Sunderland.
Mark Duffy: Hasselbaink’s master stroke in the loan market, Duffy arrived from Birmingham City and provided tricky wing play and eight goals as a key man in the League One promotion season.
Fans hoped he might stay but Duffy had raised his stock in the game with that season and signed for Sheffield United, reaching the Premier League with them in a fouryear spell.
Then came brief loan spells with Stoke City and Den Haag and now, at 35, he is appearing mainly from the bench with Fleetwood Town in League One.
Hasselbaink’s other loans that season were Remi Matthews, again as goalkeeping cover, Jerome Binnom-Williams, who scored a memorable late winner away to Chesterfield, and Zeli Ismail, who had sparkled in a first loan spell, cut short by injury, before Hasselbaink’s arrival but could not reproduce that form in three substitute appearances the second time.