Vinny Besuijen is a long way from his native Netherlands, though he admits he’s never felt more at home in Aberdeen.
The Dons playmaker has, with his team-mates, enjoyed a fine start to the season which he hopes to continue at Tannadice. And when it’s done he admits there’s every chance he’ll hook up with some of his team-mates in the coming days to continue bonding off the pitch as much as a host of new arrivals have done on the field since boss Jim Goodwin arrived in February.
The 21-year-old Dutch youth international from ADO Den Haag arrived a month before the new gaffer did and was one of a small number who survived a host of changes in the summer. And Besuijen can’t believe the difference in atmosphere around the Cormack Park training HQ since the new campaign started.
“It is completely different. We are more of a team. There is more joy. It is a good thing for the players for us to be in an environment where everyone is happy, hungry and gives positive energy to one another," he said.
“When I came here I was told that Aberdeen is like a family and I felt that straight away. Now of course when you are winning you can say that much easier but I have that feeling.
“I played in Holland and we didn’t really go to each other’s houses. Here we take each other out for dinner, we see each other’s wives, families and children. We play Playstation when we have time. This is a thing I really like outside of football.
“I play with Jayden Richardson, Leighton Clarkson and Hayden Coulson – most likely against them.” Asked who wins, the Dutchman said: “I think you guys know!” Besuijen is looking for another win in real life tonight and said: “I’m proud of the boys but we can continue to get better and be where we want to be.
“We still haven’t reached that level so that is something to look forward to. I’m sure we will take more steps to get better. We can improve our consistency. We need to win hard matches like Motherwell and Hibs.
“We have been playing well and scoring goals but what I see on the training pitch is so much higher and so much better. I know that we can still reach a higher level. Things like possession and how we press as a unit, playing longer on the ball – not for 60 minutes playing well, but for 90 minutes. So there is more to come.”
Aberdeen’s fans will be delighted to hear that but they are already happy with the standard they’ve seen this term and tonight more than 4000 of them are heading to Dundee. And Besuijen said: “As footballers we love to play in front of as many fans as possible. We have 4,000 fans and if we win then hopefully they can take over. That would be nice. Knowing that has given us a real energy boost.”
