European journalist Andy Brassell spoke to canaries.co.uk to give his thoughts on Norwich City's new loan signing Sydney van Hooijdonk.
Brassell has worked with Talksport, BBC, BT Sport and ESPN, as well as newspapers such as The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mirror and the Daily Star. Here's what he had to say about City's deadline day signing on loan from Bologna.
What can we expect from Sydney van Hooijdonk at Carrow Road?
I think he is a bit of a fox in the box, I think you see a decreasing amount of centre forwards who are that, who are just goal-scorers, and with him what you see is all penalty box. He makes super intelligent runs and is very good in the air. Because of the famous name, people might equate him to his father naturally. He is a very different type of player.
He was very prolific in the Eredivisie for Heerenveen, having had a good start there and a really good second season. He doesn't need a lot of chances to score. Because his concentration is on just scoring goals, you get quite a lot of clarity there as well. I think other strikers, you see them trying to cover all bases, whereas for him it is just scoring goals, that is his main thing.
There’s lots of talk of him being physically very strong and agile, would you agree with that?
It's not just raw power, it's being smart as well with the timing of his runs, the fact that he scores goals from all sorts of different angles and pops up in exactly the sort of place that you want him to. You don't really get many strikers like that nowadays. I suppose if you're looking for a comparison at the top level, Mauro Icardi is a good example; someone who is obsessed with scoring really, you'll find him around the six-yard box a lot.
It's not just the fact that he wins the ball in the air, it's the timing of his jumps, all that sort of stuff. He's not just got the height, he's got the intelligence to use it, so, it's not brute force. He's strong enough to look after himself but he's not powering through people, it's wit to find the space in the penalty area.
How do you think he'll adapt to the English game and what are the main differences between Serie A and the Eredivisie against the Championship?
The thing for him is, he will just be delighted to play. Having come back from Heerenveen where he was a very important player, he's struggling to get minutes with Bologna. That's no knock on him; they're challenging for Champions League places. They've been brilliant this season, but I think in terms of the physical side of the game, he is someone who should adapt to that pretty well. He's a big guy, he can look after himself, he's good at alluding defenders and finding space. Plus, he's worked with a coach this season, even if he hasn't played that many minutes, who is someone who understands the physical side of the game because he was more than a bit physical himself as a midfield player when he played for Barcelona and PSG.
So, I think even though he hasn't played as much as he would like this season, I'm sure he's learnt a lot from being under Thiago Motta, who in my opinion will be one of the best coaches in Europe going forward. But for Sydney it's just about getting out and playing again because he's gone from being a really important player in his team last season to struggling to getting the minutes he deserves.
How do you see him fitting in to the style of play at Norwich City?
I think he is someone who a lot of English and Scottish clubs have looked at for a while, thinking: "He could do something for us." In January, it's about opportunity, it's about players who want to get out and play and he is absolutely champing at the bit to play. For him, it's about getting out there and playing. Because his dad has got such an enormous experience in the British game, primarily with Celtic and Nottingham Forest, he will have been brought up on British football.
Obviously the name goes some way, but in terms of his football education, knowing what is expected of him in the English game will be of no surprise to him whatsoever. I also think that the consensus from scouts everywhere is that this is a guy who could make a dent in British football. He won't have been unaware of that interest, it's been there for over a year, I'm sure he would have had offers from other clubs, so Norwich have obviously got ahead of the pack there.
Looking at his early career and what’s ahead of him, do you see many similarities between van Hooijdonk and his dad on the pitch so far?
Not massively because his dad was someone who liked to come and get the ball, make it happen from outside the box as well. He was just a bulldozer of a player really. His characteristics translated to a load of different leagues, because he ended up playing in loads of different places, but I think people who are expecting to see a lot of Pierre in Sydney will be surprised. There's something quite gentle and graceful about his movement; he ghosts into spots where he can score goals, so obviously, being the son of a footballer, I think you get a unique insight into the game that most kids don't get when they're growing up playing football, but on the other hand he is very much his own man and very much has his own style of play.
If you come through with that name on you, people know straight away whose son you are. I think you've almost got to prove yourself a little bit more than other players. Bologna have rated him for a while, I just think the fact that they've ended up competing at a far higher level under their new coach has done incredible things there, it's all sort of played against him really.
If they were halfway up the table, they would probably be in a position where they could give him more minutes, but actually they're up there battling for pretty big prizes so that has probably stymied him. So, I don't think it's a case of people at Bologna don't rate him, I just think at this point in time they need to get him in a place where he can continue to develop. He's not a kid anymore, he just really needs to go to play and it's best for everyone.