A bit more on Danny Hoesen’s switch to HJK Helsinki from the Finnish press.

The article notes that Hoesen joined Fulham with a promising reputation from Fortuna Sittard and, although he has yet to make an appearance for the first team, has been featured regularly in the youth and reserve team sides. The loan will apparently last until the start of August, when he will return to England in preparation for the beginning of our league season.

When I’ve watched the young Dutchman I’ve been impressed. When I first saw him he came off the bench to deliver a promising cameo against Chelsea reserves last January. He’s a tall-ish striker but wouldn’t be limited to just a mere target man as he’s got the pace to worry defences in behind. He’s gradually adjusted well to English football, making more and more of an impact at reserve team level.

Having started off in the youth team, where he scored plenty of important goals (including one in a comfortable win over their Chelsea counterparts), Hoesen quickly won himself a role in the reserve side. He made a goal for Chris Smalling at Pompey and became a more regular fixture at the tail end of last season as Billy McKinlay rotated his line-up with an eye on those who would be able to make the step up from youth level.

Hoesen had an impressive pre-season and looked promising enough when I saw a youthful Fulham side take on AFC Wimbledon in July. Some observers at that game thought he might have the capability to make it, but that was an exceedingly harsh judgement based on a physical pre-season friendly, with many reserve-team regulars missing due to the imminent start of our Europa League campaign. Danny also showed his versatility in the summer by switching to a midfield role in another friendly at Walton Casuals.

Hoesen had to wait for his chance to impress in the reserves, with his contributions largely restricted to substitute appearances. When he did get a start – at Wolves in November – he made Fulham’s opening goal in a 2-0 win with a clever run and shot that gave Eddie Johnson a simple finish to set Fulham on their way to victory. He notched another in an impressive win over Stoke with a deadly finish from close range and scored the first in a 3-0 victory over Birmingham the other week.

Hoesen grabbed the first goal against Chelsea on Tuesday and there’s little doubt that his development will be assisted by some regular first-team football. Experience of a different type of game would also be a bonus and, since he will be travelling to Finland at a younger age than either Rob Milsom or Wayne Brown, it will be interesting to see how he adapts to the challenge. Since he’s very much one for the future, we hope for good reports on Danny’s progress.