'I want to help him' - Aberdeen boss delivers verdict on Preston North End man's loan spell so far
The PNE summer signing is on loan at Aberdeen for the rest of the season
Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin has confidence he can get the best out of Jeppe Okkels again.
The Dons signed Preston North End’s summer recruit on loan two-and-a-half weeks ago. Since then the Dane has played 151 minutes across two appearances - against Rangers and Hearts - for the Scottish Premiership side.
The caveat with Okkels - who struggled to make an impact in those two outings - is his lack of game time over the last 12 months. After joining PNE for a reported £1.7million he racked up 306 minutes of match action in 10 games.
Prior to that, the winger turned out five times for FC Utrecht following his January 2024 move to the top flight Dutch club. Thelin recognises the work that needs to be done to get Okkels firing again, but he’s still hopeful the former Elfsborg pair can achieve it.
“I know what he is capable of and I want to help him get back to that level,” said Thelin. ”I think for me it’s more to use his strengths here and I think that’s quite easy to adapt to what we want to do here. It is not exactly the same as Elfsborg but there are some similarities.
“I know what he can do so I know the player also and I can use him in the best way for the team. He got an injury in Holland. He is adapting quickly to the team out on the training pitch but if you haven’t played so much you always have to be a little bit smart in how you load the players.
“I think even if you have a player for six months, the trust has to be there and clear. Even if you don’t play, you have to be clear to the player why they don’t play and what they have to do to play. Sometimes you have to have the trust for everyone because you need the players to grow.
“But they also need to know clearly why they don’t play and when they play, what they have to keep doing to keep playing. So that’s why you can raise the standards of the team week-by-week or season-by-season.”
“Jeppe knows what he wants to do...”
Okkels has joined a team desperately looking to get their season back on track. The Dons ended a 12-game winless run last weekend by beating Elgin City 3-0 in the Scottish Cup. Aberdeen started the season on fire and Thelin sees Okkels as someone who can help spark the needed improvement.
“When we were winning the games, we saw some things that were really good,” said Thelin. “Now I feel the team is taking too much time before we arrive at a good attacking opportunity. So that’s the thing we have to speed up.
“Jeppe knows what he wants to do and I think he can bring this quality. That’s the trust he has there. Then of course he always has to adapt to new team-mates, new opponents. But the basics for him are really easy to adapt to.”