SC Heerenveen rents Jan Paul van Hecke this season from Brighton & Hove Albion, so the Frisians announce through the official way. The twenty year old defender was recently presented as an acquisition of Brighton, which took him over from NAC Breda. Van Hecke will be leased directly to Heerenveen to gain experience at the highest level.

Brighton paid about two million euros for Van Hecke. Depending on the duels that the mandekker plays on behalf of the club from the Premier League, so after the rental period at Heerenveen, the total transfer amount can amount to at least three million euros through bonuses. For a while it looked like Van Hecke would be leased to FC Utrecht, but Heerenveen eventually pulled out all the stops. AZ was also in the market for the 20-year-old stopper for some time, just like AS Monaco.

Van Hecke, whose contract with NAC lasted two more seasons, had his breakthrough in the Kitchen Champion Division last season. Including cup matches, the defender came to sixteen matches in the Pearl of the South. He scored against Feyenoord in the semi-finals of the TOTO KNVB Cup, lost by NAC with ample numbers: 7-1.

“It’s very nice that Jan Paul chose us”, replies technical manager Gerry Hamstra on the club website. “The fact that a Premier League club is taking him over as a first division player says everything about the talent, quality and potential that Jan Paul possesses. With him in the back we now have more room in our choices. Jan Paul is going through a stormy development, which he can continue with us.”

Van Hecke is already the sixth summer acquisition of Heerenveen. Earlier Sieben Deawele and Oliver Batista Meier were taken over on a rental basis from RSC Anderlecht and Bayern Munich respectively. In addition, goalkeeper Erwin Mulder was taken away from Swansea City transfer free, while Henk Veerman (FC St. Pauli) and Pawel Bochniewicz (Górnik Zabrze) were paid a small transfer fee. Furthermore, Joaquín Fernández was transferred for an unknown amount from Club Atlético River Plate from Uruguay.