Why Sunderland swooped for Burnley target Jenson Seelt

The 20-year-old Dutch defender’s name was one that circulated towards the top end of several clubs’ data compilations last year when scouring Europe for young players harbouring potential, having been a part of the PSV Eindhoven set-up. One of those teams was eventual Championship winners Burnley, with Seelt’s advances with PSV II during the first half of last season catching the eye of Vincent Kompany, who no doubt will have been alerted to the profile of the young defender during his time in Belgium with Anderlecht.

The Clarets negotiated a seven-figure sum for Seelt back in January, with add-ons based on future incentives depending on how the defender progressed at Turf Moor, but that deal was turned down by the Dutch side who wanted a higher initial fee. Although Seelt had not managed to bridge the gap into PSV’s senior side, the Dutch giants were happy to allow him to continue in their development squad, given the rate of his progression, in the hope of attracting a fee nearer to that of their desire in the summer.

Kompany, instead, turned his attentions elsewhere with Belgian youngster Ameen Al-Dakhil and Sweden international Hjalmar Ekdal arriving in the January window from Sint-Triuden and Djurgarden, respectively. The two centre-backs would form part of the Burnley squad who strolled to the Championship title; Al-Dakhil making 12 appearances on his way to a senior international debut with Belgium this summer and Ekdal making nine. The success of those two will likely have added to Seelt’s frustrations that a deal to Lancashire did not materialise – Al-Dakhil having since gone on to make 14 appearances for the Clarets this season, including 11 in the Premier League.

But Seelt, and PSV for that matter, did find a resolution in the summer after he continued to have solid campaign, despite a final league position of 14th in the Eerste Divisie, when Sunderland came calling for the defender with what qualified as an acceptable fee.  Burnley’s interest in January, given their success in the division at that point, may have pricked Sunderland’s curiosity further but the defender ticked plenty of boxes on Wearside, particularly after the departure of player of the year Danny Batth.

Although Tony Mowbray was able to guide the Black Cats into the play-offs last season, their physicality and presence was often something which was called into question – particularly in those two semi-final ties with Luton Town. Seelt, at 6ft 3”, joined the likes of Nectarios Triantis and Jobe Bellingham in providing some much-needed height to the balance of the Sunderland squad to complement Dan Ballard in defence, with Jobe further in attack.

Seelt made 33 appearances for PSV II last season and was ranked third in Eerste Divisie when it came to aerial duels won inside his own penalty area, as per Wyscout, something which Sunderland had craved the ability to do. In terms of his out-and-out defensive capabilities, Seelt ranked joint-fifth when it came to shots blocked and won roughly 70 per cent of his defensive duels.

But Burnley weren’t necessarily highlighting Seelt for his defensive responsibility alone. As an understudy of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Kompany’s side had a distinct possession-based philosophy. Burnley enjoyed the highest possession percentage in the Championship last season and were ranked first for PPDA (passes per defensive action); an advanced metric used which attempts to quantify the quality of a team’s pressing in games. A higher PPDA value indicates they make less of an attempt to press in the opposition half, rather they focus on recovering and getting back into position which means Kompany’s side, with the lowest PPDA, were on the front foot and trying to win back possession as soon they turned it over.

Additionally, Burnley ranked second for passes, key passes and through passes in the Championship in 2022-23 which means Seelt was clearly targeted to fit into that kind of an approach. Seelt was the fifth-ranked centre-back in the Dutch second division when it came to through passes – only De Graafschap’s Rio Hillen ranked higher in the same age bracket. Seelt was 13th for most completed passes in the division with Ajax II’s centre-back Olivier Aertssen the only player younger than Seelt to have completed more.

PSV II ranked fifth for total passes as a team in terms of their construction of play last season so it’s easy to understand why Kompany took an interest in the young defender in January and why Sunderland were keen to pick up on that trail in the summer given their desire to develop younger players under Kristjaan Speakman and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ model at the Stadium of Light.

Seelt, however, hasn’t quite hit the ground running since his arrival on Wearside having been limited to just eight appearances – only four as a starter - following Boxing Day's win over Hull City. Seelt’s first two starts, as an emergency replacement for Ballard who was suspended against Brimingham City and then for the defeat against Huddersfield Town weren’t particularly endearing, having also struggled out of position against Middlesbrough when coming on as a first half substitute – albeit there were mitigating circumstances in the Wear-Tees derby following Dan Neil’s dismissal on half-time.

And yet Seelt has done himself no harm whatsoever in two starts against Leeds United and Hull in December. Seelt’s inclusion against Leeds came as something of a surprise when interim boss Mike Dodds shuffled the pack despite a morale-boosting win over West Bromwich Albion in the wake of Mowbray’s departure. The Dutchman formed part of a back three, as the right-sided centre-back, in what ended up being one of Sunderland’s standout performances of the season as they shut-out one of the league’s most ruthless attacks.

Defensively, Seelt has shown he is adept in both of those games. He won nine of 13 defensive duels against Leeds whereas he made 11 interceptions against Hull on Boxing Day, missing just one aerial duel on Humberside. But like the synopsis of his transfer in the summer, it’s not necessarily all about his defensive abilities but his control in possession and being able to progress Sunderland from defence.

Against Leeds, as a third centre-back, he had to remain disciplined with Niall Huggins ahead of him at wing-back to produce more of the attacking outlet. He touched the ball just 12 times in the opposition half which shows how diligent he was in that respect. In possession, however, Seelt completed 88 per cent of his passes, which complemented Ballard and Luke O’Nien in the centre of defence who each had a 90 per cent succession. That dipped slightly to 80 per cent at Hull, but Seelt was moved over to a more unnatural right-back position in the absence of Huggins.

On the flip side, despite a clear battle up against Scott Twine in the first half – a player who might have been his team-mate at Turf Moor had things worked differently for Seelt 12 months ago – Seelt enjoyed almost 50 per cent of his possession in Hull’s half of the field with 26 of 61 touches coming in the opposition half. Seelt did well to negate Twine, so much so the midfielder switched wings after half-an-hour having had little change from the Dutchman up to that point.

It was the second half which saw Seelt able to advance forward a little more with Michael Beale’s side grabbing hold of the game, at least by virtue of possession and territory. Seelt, by trade, is a centre-back but he has had brief experience in a defensive midfield role whilst in Eindhoven which would again suggest his comfort in possession. Seelt is unlikely to be a swashbuckling full-back, nor will we likely see him score the kind of solo goal we saw from Huggins against Watford. And yet he won 80 per cent of his offensive duels against Hull which contributed to Sunderland’s controlling display.

But he also contributed immensely in defence, particularly when denying what felt like it would have been a certain goal when stretching to head clear Tyler Morton’s inviting cross in the second half, having previously positioned himself just about well enough to delay a two-against-one scenario which eventually resulted in a tame effort from Aaron Connolly.

Jack Clarke’s late strike saw Sunderland drop back into a compact back five with Seelt noticeably tucked in alongside O’Nien allowing substitute Adil Aouchiche to revert as the right-sided wing-back as Sunderland saw out the game and Seelt a second successive clean sheet as a starter.

“We’ve been good enough, defensively, to keep a clean sheet,” Beale said after the win over Hull. “Little things pleased me, like Jenson. I think it’s his first 90 minutes for a long while, he came in and played at right-back, slightly out of position, and I thought he was fantastic. So I’m pleased. We’re going to need to whole squad.”

When Seelt’s move to Burnley fell through 12 months ago the Dutchman was left frustrated, maybe worried his chance to prove himself at a higher level had passed him by. The 20-year-old remained confident in his own ability which, ultimately, resulted in him landing at Wearside.

Things may not yet be going entirely how Seelt envisioned when arriving in the North East in terms of being a regular starter, but he has now played a pivotal role in Sunderland earning two clean sheets against teams in the top six, which will certainly help his cause moving forward.