Jan Paul van Hecke #6

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AKA “the Giant of Arnemuiden”, a nickname honouring his time at his local amateur club in the Zeeland town of Arnemuiden. The robust centre-back was snapped up by Brighton from NAC Breda six years ago but his breakthrough took some time, via loan spells at Dutch club Heerenveen and in the Championship with Blackburn. Now, though, he’s a Premier League regular, and last year won both Brighton’s player of the year award and the players’ player of the year too. He is the nephew of former international Jan Poortvliet, who played in the 1978 World Cup final loss to Argentina. Van Hecke said in 2024: “My uncle is enjoying my journey, he said he is proud and he watches me every game. When I played against Ajax, winning away made him emotional, he was in tears … He told me all the stories from the World Cup he played in. He said they were robbed against Argentina!”

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