Jeppe Okkels

The Dons make their first move of the January transfer window, reuniting Jimmy Thelin with a trusted lieutenant of his past.

Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Fir Park saw Aberdeen’s miserable run of form continue, Motherwell’s win was the Dons’ 5th defeat in a row and with only 1 win in the last 12 games, Jimmy Thelin’s side have surrendered a significant lead in the race for 3rd to now find themselves sitting in 4th spot, behind Dundee United on goal difference.

In light of the latest defeat, pressure on the Pittodrie board to back their manager in this January window has intensified. With medium-term injuries to Ester Sokler & Gavin Molloy confirmed, together with long-term injuries to Jack Milne and Vicente Besuijen coupled with another upcoming suspension for Slobodan Rubežić leaves the Aberdeen squad looking wafer-thin. To compound matters, the form of Angus MacDonald is putting more pressure on squad resources - Thelin’s decision to withdraw MacDonald at half-time at Fir Park speaks volumes for how he viewed the centre-half’s first half performance.

Despite the appalling run of form that has befallen Aberdeen in recent weeks, the fact remains that the Dons are well in the hunt for a finish in the European spaces and, with results at the weekend, remain in a great position to take 3rd spot and (on the basis that one of Celtic or Sevco win the Scottish Cup) secure league stage European football next season but the manner in which this side has thrown away a significant advantage can’t be considered to be anything but alarming and, for that reason, it’s imperative that the Aberdeen board back the manager within this January window to ensure that the season doesn’t disintegrate.

As Sunday evening progressed it appeared that the Dons’ first piece of business in the January was nearing completion with the loan acquisition of Danish winger, Jeppe Okkels from Preston North End until the end of the season. The move was confirmed by the Dons early on Monday evening, with Aberdeen holding an option to buy the winger at the conclusion of the campaign.

A winger was, perhaps, not the first area of the squad that appeared to need work but digging into the detail on Okkels, it is clear as to why the opportunity to reunite Thelin with the player who he had at Elfsborg was too good to turn down.

So what can we expect from Okkels?

Okkels joined Thelin at Elfsborg in August 2020 having come through the Silkeborg youth setup and making 103 appearances for his hometown side, scoring 13 goals and providing 12 assists - a goal contribution, in effect, of one every four games.

A successful three and a half year stint with Elfsborg coming to an end in January 2024 with a transfer to Utrecht in the Eredivise - a rumoured fee in the region of €700,000 taking the winger to the Netherlands. Curiously, Okkels was on the move again within 8 months and, despite only making 5 appearances for Utrecht, the Dutch side able to sell him on to Preston North End for a fee of €2m - not bad business if you can manage it.

The move to Preston seemed an odd fit to begin although it had, presumably, been in the works for a while as Preston jettisoned Ryan Lowe the day before Okkels signed. Paul Heckingbottom taking charge of Preston and his tendency to play a 3-4-2-1 meant that chances for an out and out winger would be few and far between. That’s borne out with Okkels failing to see much game time this season - only 306 minutes in 10 appearances of football for the winger to date this campaign.

With such a limited sample size of gametime in the last 12 months, it’s reasonable to take a look at Okkels’ output at Elfsborg for a clue into just what sort of player Aberdeen are getting.

We spoke to Oskar Pålsson, sports reporter & football columnist at Borås Tidning to get the low-down.

The first thing that’s obvious is that Thelin loved Jeppe Okkels, Oskar explains:-

….Thelin really liked Jeppe Okkels atElfsborg, and I believe it was for two main reasons:-

1) He works hard, all the time, even in defensive situations; and

2) He is a really good player for counter attacks. He likes to run without the ball, has good timing with avoiding offside flags and is hard to stop in that kind of situations. I’m not surprised that Sivert Heltne Nilsen and Jeppe Okkels are two players that Thelin wants at Aberdeen.

When you are in a battle, it makes sense that you want trusted individuals who can execute your game plan and, make no mistake, Thelin is very much in the trenches just now so a move for a known quantity is entirely sensible.

Thelin’s Elfsborg generally lined up in a nominal 4-3-3 but it was, essentially, a mix of 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1 and 4-4-2 depending on what mix of central midfielders were available to him on a given day.

During his time at Aberdeen, we’ve seen indications of this fluidity - whereas the Dons have generally lined up in a 4-2-3-1 shape, we’ve seen the side drop into a 4-4-2 when out of possession and there have been plenty of occasions where we’ve pushed into a 4-3-3 when the game situation has allowed us to push our wide men further up the park.

At Elfsborg, Okkels only played on the left side. Similarly to Topi Keskinen, he appears to be capable in playing on either side and is comfortable on either foot. A number of instances on the various highlight reels available on Okkels show that he enjoys cutting inside onto his right foot but he also shows enough capability to beat a man on the outside as well - again, similar to Keskinen’s profile from that perspective.

One of the key elements of Okkels’ profile that stands out is his work defensively (both in a high press situation and working back to his own goal), as Okskar states:-

…Okkels was very important for the Elfsborg’s opportunities to re-win the ball in offensive areas of the pitch…

…defensively, he does the work - he runs a lot but he can be weak in duels, he is good when it comes to stopping counter attacks by opponents and to “be on the right side” but you probably don’t want him to be left in a one-on-one situation defensively too often.

The final sentence is, perhaps, a bit of a surprise given Thelin’s desire to have his wide players winning the ball back within the opposing team’s defensive third. That said, it would appear that Okkels’ work off the ball is used to pressure opponents into making poor decisions which then sees a mistake made elsewhere on the pitch for others to exploit. This would seem to be a key reason for Thelin looking to bring Okkels to Aberdeen as this is an area that has dropped off in recent weeks.

Offensively, Okkels is extremely good in transitions - as Oskar points out he is quick and has good positional awareness to ensure he avoids being caught offside and opponents can find it hard to stop him in those situations.

On the ball, Okkels shows an above average ability against his peers in the Allsvenskan to beat an opponent in one-on-one dribbling situations and in progressive carries and he also appears to be secure in possession - with upwards of an 85% success rate on short & medium passes during his final season in Sweden, demonstrating an ability to maintain possession and link up with his team mates.

Perhaps most importantly, in his final season in Sweden he generated 11 goals and 5 assists in 30 league appearances - placing him in the upper 30% of players for shot attempts & chances created and in the top 10% for goals.

Even with that all said, the prevailing view in Sweden was that Okkels could have / should have scored more goals:-

…he missed to much but was very important for the teams opportunities to re-win the ball on offensive part of the pitch.

On the face of it, Okkels appears to be an intriguing piece of business. He clearly needs game time at a club that plays in a manner that will allow him to flourish after the best part of 12 months on the sidelines. In reuniting with Thelin he has the chance to reignite his career alongside the manager with whom he had his best spell.

For Thelin, it’s clear that the Swede has a very defined style of play in his mind and he doesn’t appear to want to compromise on his style at all. This is, to an extent, similar to the way that Ruben Amorim has talked recently. With such a mindset, rightly or wrongly, it makes sense for Thelin to look towards known quantities to try and turn this run around and get the Dons back into position where the sparkling start to the campaign doesn’t go to waste.

Okkels, therefore, seems like a low-risk opportunity to get a player familiar with the manager’s demands in the door with the upside of an option to buy in the summer if all falls into plan.

Welcome to Pittodrie, Jeppe!

COYR.