Jelle set for three years at Turf Moor

Last updated : 07 July 2015 By Tony Scholes

It was a certainty that we would increase our attacking options with Danny Ings having moved to Liverpool and Ashley Barnes set to be ruled out for most, if not all, of the 2015/16 season, and Dyche has signed the 26-year-old Belgian.

He netted seven league goals for Middlesbrough last season and also scored the crucial opener in the first leg of the play-off semi-final against Brentford before playing in the final which they lost against Norwich.

Boro had been linked with him again as had Celtic, but it is Burnley who have got his signature with Vossen the first Belgian to sign for the club although there have previously been a couple on trial including a full back who played in a reserve game in 1998 and Dimitri de Condé who was with the squad in the Isle of Man in 2001. I can't remember the full back's name but I do recall Stan Ternent telling Radio Lancs listeneres that we wouldn't be pursuing him because he didn't speak the lingo. De Condé is now technical director at KRC Genk and has been involved in the talks that have led to Vossen's move to Burnley.

Vossen started his career with KRC Gent, making his debut as a youngster in the 2006/07 season, but it was after a loan at Cercle Brugge in 2009/10 that the goals started to flow.

That prompted Middlesbrough, on the last day of last summer's transfer window, to sign him on a season long loan deal which was, at the time, with a view to a permanent deal.

His first three goals for the Teesside club came in a 5-1 win at Millwall, and all his remaining goals came in victories in a season that saw them finish in fourth place in the Championship with 85 points.

Boro's current assistant head coach Steve Agnew said of Vossen last week: "Jelle is as good a finisher as I've worked with. He's very accurate in front of goal, particularly from the edge of the box. He has that knack of placing the ball just inside the post.

"Jelle is a Belgian international and a top pro who is very dedicated and works hard on his game. He's unselfish, he links up well with his team mates and is good in the air for a lad who's not particularly tall. I think he'll always score goals, whatever level he's playing at.

See his Middlesbrough goals below.

 

Vossen has also played on 12 occasions at full international level for Belgium, this after also playing for his country at every age group from under-15 to under-21. He's scored twice at full international level. Both came in Euro 2012 qualifiers, the first in a 4-4 draw against Austria and then in a 4-1 victory against Azerbaijan.

 

 

Photograph shown by Spanky47 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons