ARRIVING at Fir Park with a nickname like the Budget Bergkamp there was always going to be a sense of intrigue regarding summer signing Kevin Van Veen.
And the Dutch striker, 30, didn’t disappoint the fans inside the ground and those watching at home as he showed off his skills and terrorised the Hibs backline.
Notching his first league goal on his Premiership debut was just the start. It seems unfair to describe Van Veen as a target man; he dazzled supporters despite a 3-2 loss to Hibernian with clever link-up play, aerial dominance and numerous skills helping him beat one or two players in tight areas in the final third.
Van Veen, named Man of The Match on Sunday, was hailed as the Budget Bergkamp by Scunthrope fans following impressive performances working under Well boss Graham Alexander down south.
Now his mission is to drive Motherwell up the table through hard work and a healthy dose of raw ability after turning down moves in England, Azerbaijan and Thailand.
“It was good. I felt quite comfortable. I am only getting fitter and fitter because last year I missed a whole season with injuries”, said Van Veen.
“Sometimes I felt like I had the centre backs in the pocket a bit and just playing around with them. I hope I can do that a lot more and I can cause a lot more trouble for the defenders.
“I would like to think I am different than other players. I want to be different, I don’t want to be a basic player and pass it sideways. I want to be entertaining the fans and getting them off the chairs from time to time and be creative.”
On his nickname, Van Veen added: “They (Scunthorpe fans) called me the Budget Bergkamp.
“It is a good name to have obviously but you need to stay with two feet on the ground and show it every single week. You cannot be Budget Bergkamp one week and the other week you don’t show up so that’s for me now to maintain my performances.
“I was watching Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp at Arsenal back in the day so Bergkamp is one of those players I looked up to with Van Nistelrooy as the top two.
“I have nowhere near the quality they have but I would like to represent myself a little bit as them. If I have 1% of their quality I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Discussing his decision to choose Lanarkshire over an overseas switch Van Veen pointed to his ambition as he aims to be the latest Dutch import to succeed in Scotland.
He said: “I had a lot of opportunities this summer. A lot of opportunities in England and quite far away and tropical as well. But when the gaffer rang me and the connection we were having and I think Motherwell is a very good club in Scottish league I was very interested to come over and all the other interest were put a little bit to the side.
“It didn’t interest me at all (to move abroad). I am still ambitious and want to play in front of big crowds and do well. I want people to still watch me if I go there far away then nobody will be seeing me and I don’t know where I’d end up. This is definitely the right decision and I’m very happy.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel