McInnes shuts down Kilmarnock 'threw money at it' Van Veen narrative

Van Veen - nicknamed the Budget Bergkamp - chose a move to Kilmarnock over offers from St Mirren and former club Motherwell.

Groningen had accepted similar proposals from St Mirren and Kilmarnock for Van Veen, 32, but the forward decided to join McInnes after initial discussions held back in December.

“It became clear that it was between us and St Mirren, we had to go every step of the way with them," said McInnes of the transfer pursuit for Van Veen. “It’s two clubs that are a similar size with similar ambitions, we were in a fight.

“Thankfully the club supported us on it, and it got to the point both clubs agreed a deal and it was down to Kevin.

“I need to quash the rumour or the narrative that we threw loads of extra money at it, we never, and that’s a fact.

“We had to put our best foot forward, we matched St Mirren’s offer to the extent that Groningen left it up to him.

“Thankfully Kevin chose us, we’d have been gutted if he had chosen elsewhere after the conversations and effort we put in.

“There was a huge effort from everyone in the background here at the club, we’ve got a good administrative staff ready to deal with things.

“We’ve got support from the board and then there’s Russ Richardson who helps deal with the agent side of things during these deals."

Van Veen had requested a move back to Scotland having spent December in Scotland after the birth of his daughter. 

Groningen had favoured a permanent move but with little time remaining in the window settled on a loan deal until the end of the season.

“We are delighted to get the deal done, obviously we weren’t the only show in town trying to sign him," explained McInnes.

“A player with Kevin’s ability you’d always expect competition, we took a bit of comfort in the fact I’d been speaking to him since December trying to point him in our direction.

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“I always knew the situation with him at Groningen, I knew they probably wanted a permanent resolution, and we knew it would be drawn out over January.

“We were always hopeful that come the last day if there wasn’t a permanent option and it became a loan one then we had to put our best foot forward.

“Thankfully that’s what it came down to, over the course of the day it was a tough day, I need to applaud everyone behind the scenes at Kilmarnock for their perseverance."

Van Veen's late deadline day switch followed a free transfer deal for Greg Stewart to return to Kilmarnock. However, McInnes was keen to ease expectations on the charismatic Dutchman with game time limited in the first half of the season.

“We hope it’s a significant signing, we are mindful of the fact that Kevin hasn’t played since November, we need to get him up to speed, but there’s no doubting his quality.

“He’s a great addition to the squad, we aren’t improving the forward areas because we’re unhappy, we’ve had a lot of good returns from the front lads.

“We’re bringing Kevin and Greg [Stewart] in because we want to strengthen that area.

“Kevin has great pedigree, he knows Scottish football and despite limited appearances this season he’s still scored five goals.

“He comes here confident, a talismanic type of figure, and I think he will fit in with us playing in a front two, I think he can play with any of our front players.

“We feel fortunate that we’ve managed to get him in, as I say I am grateful for the support we’ve had to get him here.

“But Kevin is also lucky coming in to a good dressing room with so many good players, it’s a team that’s going well.

“All the new signings in January have came on board because they see there’s a good team here, they see where we are in the league.

“But it’s up to us now, just because we have a good squad on paper, it’s important that we try and step on now for the second part of the campaign."