Mats Knoester

The Dons go Dutch with a fifth recruit of this January window...

For days, the identity of the Dons’ latest acquisition has been subject to much internet sleuthing - the only identifier being a medical booked late last week for a mystery defender and the fact that he was Dutch.

Poring over the details of players far and wide, one player that never popped up was Mats Knoetser who was, finally unveiled as an Aberdeen player on Monday afternoon.

The 26 year old, left-footed centre back penning a two-and-a-half year deal with a further option in the club’s favour following his release at the end of January from Hungarian cracks, Ferencvárosi after a three-year stint in Budapest.

A product of the Feyenoord youth academy, Knoester departed De Kuip without making a first team appearance, instead making the switch to Heracles where he gained experience in the Eredivise - making 92 appearances in total for the Almelo side, scoring 2 goals. From there, he made the move to the Hungarian capital ahead of the 2022/23 season.

A consistent starter in his first season in Hungary, Knoester gaining experience in both Champions League qualifiers and the Europa League - he picked up a league winners medal as Ferencvárosi continued their domination of the Hungarian league.

The signing of Ibrahim Cisse from Caen in the summer of 2023 curtailed Knoester’s opportunities in his second season in Hungary, which meant that Knoester made a loan move to Aarhus GF in Denmark for the 2023/24 season. An ankle injury curtailing a promising start for him in the Danish top flight, eventually coming back into the starting XI for the championship round of fixtures - Knoester returned to Hungary having made 18 appearances in total during his spell in Denmark, including featuring in the Danish Cup Final which ended in a 1-0 defeat to Silkeborg.

At the beginning of this campaign, he was persuaded to stay in Hungary, new Dutch manager Pascal Jansen promising him opportunities and he found his way back into the starting lineup for Europa League Qualifiers against Borac Banja Luka but his game time has been restricted again - only 343 minutes of action for Knoester all season, his last appearance coming in a Hungarian Cup tie back on 31st October 2024. With game time limited, Knoester’s was keen to force a move away and his release was granted at the end of January, freeing him up for a move to the Dons with ex-Don, Stefan Gartenmann doing his bit for the club’s recruitment team for the second time in this window.

No-Nonsense Centre Half?

So… What kind of player are we getting? At 6ft 2in, he’s of a decent size, comparable to that of fellow January recruit, Kristers Tobers.

Having come through the Dutch system, Knoester should be comfortable on the ball and capable of looking to play out from the back. In his RedTV unveiling, he talked about looking to make passes through the lines and indicated that he wasn’t afraid of the physical side of defending.

Speaking to Hungarian journalists, the general consensus was:-

…nothing flashy, more of a no nonsense defender who will do a decent job, especially if he has a good partner at the back…

A no-nonsense defender sounds pretty good to me as things stand. If there’s one thing we’ve been guilty of in recent weeks, it’s absolute nonsense at the back. The key piece here will be how Jimmy Thelin now gets an entirely new-look back line to gel quickly - normally the type of activity reserved for a close season.

Looking at his data set from his time in Denmark (most recent sample size that is of any real value), the description of him being a fairly solid, unflashy player pulls through.

On defensive duels, Knoester was involved in an average of 6.98 per 90 minutes, with a success rate of 70.67%. That average, combined with success rate puts him in the top 10 defenders in the Danish Superliga last season on that metric.

Aerially, a 49.02% success rate in aerial duels feels a little low, especially when you consider how often we see balls pumped towards strikers in Scotland - for comparison, Slobodan Rubežić boasts an aerial success rate of 69.2% this season.

An overarching defensive duels win rate of 58.06% basically sees him sit just slightly above average compared to other defenders in the Superliga during the 23/24 season.

Perhaps interestingly, Knoester averaged 11.08 recoveries per 90 minutes whilst in Denmark, that placed him 19th amongst centre halves - compare this to Rubežić’s measly 2.59 per 90 minutes this season. For the unintiated, a recovery is, simply, any action that stops the other team having possession and starts possession for your side. This may, to be fair, be a symptom of the way that AGF played, compared to Aberdeen who have, in the main, dominated possession this season and so opportunities to recover possession may be lessened.

On the ball? Well, put it this way, he’s not overly keen to run with the ball but his ability to pass out from the back is bound to have been one of the things that the recruitment team have pored over. Making on average 42.16 passes per 90 minutes and with a success rate of 83.22%, Knoester placed above average within his peers in Denmark and his passing radars indicate he’s not afraid to play the ball forwards and in a progressive manner.

Indeed, an overarching success rate of progressive passes of 72.4% is encouraging - this is an area that we have struggled with in recent weeks - if Knoester’s is able to make key passes through the lines to his midfield or even further advanced, then this will help the Dons get up the park more effectively than we have during the miserable run of form we currently endure. Remarkably, he enjoyed a 96.2% success rate in progressive passes which were over 40m in distance.

All in all, Knoester appears to be a fairly solid, if unspectacular, pick-up.

There’s nothing about Knoester’s game that immediately stands out from the data - dare I say it, he looks kind of boring in comparison to other signings we have made recently but that’s not to say that a solid, no-frills defender who turns up, does his job and can pick a pass out is not exactly what we need right now. One thing that is not clear from any data set and footage of him is limited is his turn of pace. As we’ve seen all to often in Scotland, attackers with pace to burn pose a real threat and we need to be mindful that neither Tobers or Dorrington appear overly blessed in this regard…

Data Source: Wyscout - Performance Statistics Report.