Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin is right to sign players he knows and trusts from his time in Scandinavia, says Pittodrie legend Alex McLeish.
In the midst of a damaging Premiership winless collapse Thelin has turned to players he knows from his time managing Elfsborg in Sweden in a bid to salvage the season.
Thelin recently signed versatile full-back Alexander Jensen from Swedish Allsvenskan club Brommapojkarna for a fee understood to be £545,000 (€650,000).
Rated as one of the hottest defensive prospects in the Swedish top-flight, Jensen signed a four-year deal with the Reds.
Winger Jeppe Okkels was also secured on loan from Preston North End until the end of the season.
Thelin managed Okkels at Elfsborg for three seasons before selling him to Dutch top flight club Utrecht.
Aberdeen have the option to make the deal for Okkels permanent if he impresses.
Last summer Thelin also signed Sivert Heltne Nilsen for £300,000 from Norwegian club SK Brann on a three-year deal.
Heltne Nilsen was captain at Elfsborg under Thelin from 2019 to 2021.
McLeish believes having trust in players is fundamental and reckons landing signings he knows could be vital to a form revival for Thelin.
He said: “The big thing is recruitment.
“You have to be sure about the players you bring in.
“Nowadays there are algorithms and computer whizz kids that many clubs rely on.
“However, I always relied on my own eyes and generally I was delighted with a lot of the players I chose to sign.
“Thelin trusts these players he has worked with before and knows from his time in Sweden.
“If you have players you can trust who you know can play and organise to your needs then you have a chance.”
Thelin reuniting with former players
Thelin signed Okkels for Elfsborg from Swedish club Silkeborg in 2020.
He scored 29 goals in 118 matches before Thelin sold him to Utrecht.
Okkels scored 11 goals and pitched in with seven assists in his final campaign under Thelin in Sweden in 2023.
Jensen spent two seasons in Sweden with IF Brommapojkarna until his transfer to Aberdeen this month.
Thelin’s trust in new signings Jensen and Okkels has been underlined by the Dons manager pitching them both into his starting line-up.
The Swede also signed Kristers Tobers in a £600,000 deal from Swiss club Grasshoppers in the January transfer window.
Latvian international captain Tobers penned a three-and-a-half year contract.
Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Alfie Dorrington was also secured on loan until the end of the season.
Gérard Houllier’s thoughts on trust
Thelin and his recruitment team are working on securing further signings before the window closes, with the capture of a striker a priority.
Aberdeen have suffered a nosedive in league form and are now 13 Premiership games without a victory.
Gothenburg Great McLeish insists signing players you trust is imperative.
McLeish said: “Thelin had a fantastic start and had Aberdeen playing to a high level.
“The energy levels needed for that have maybe caught up with them.
“However, I’m sure the players will adapt to that and stand Thelin in good stead for this season and beyond.
“Having, and signing, players you trust is vital.
“I spent a week with Gérard Houllier (former Liverpool and Paris St Germain boss) at Lyon where he won two French league titles in a row.
“I asked him if he got nervous in the dugout.
“He said ‘of course, I always have nerves’.
“But when you know you have players out there you can trust it is so much easier.
“If you put a team out there you are positive about, trust and know will give you everything.
“Players you trust, that is what every manager loves.”
Thelin must be shrewd with signings
Aberdeen are in the midst of one of the worst winless league runs in the club’s history.
Thelin’s Reds have taken only four points from the last possible 39 available.
From being level on points with leaders Celtic at the top of the table after the first 11 games, the Reds have now dropped to fourth in the table.
Pittodrie’s board have backed Thelin in the January transfer window by making funds available to revamp the struggling team.
With Aberdeen up against the superior spending power of Celtic and Rangers, McLeish says Thelin’s transfer window business is pivotal.
He said: “I went down to see Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
“I asked if I could watch them training for a day, he said ‘no, you can come for the week’.
“We were having breakfast and I asked him ‘what makes you a great manager?’
“He looked from left to right and said ‘great players’.
“A former Arsenal player said Arsene never really went into much detail, he just said go out and express yourselves.
“You imagine Wenger would be a mathematician with tactics – but he wasn’t.
“It is not complicated.
“If you can get the right players that you trust it makes all the difference especially when you don’t have as much money as other teams.
“You have to be shrewd.”
McLeish will be back in the Granite City on Thursday, May 22 for 1990: The Legends Return.
He will appear at Aberdeen Music Hall to share stories of the double winning 1989-90 squad along with former team-mates Hans Gillhaus, Theo Snelders, Charlie Nicholas and Brian Irvine.
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