Football League World
·19 janvier 2025
Football League World
·19 janvier 2025
The loan of the Dutch goalkeeper in second half of 15/16 was pivotal for both player and club
In the January transfer window of the 2015/16 season, Neal Ardley and AFC Wimbledon made a signing that would change their season.
The club picked up up-and-coming, at the time, Derby County goalkeeper Kelle Roos, on transfer deadline day and made him their second and final signing of the window.
But having been far from impressive in his previous spell with Rotherham United, nobody expected the deal to be so pivotal to both the player, and more importantly, the club.
Not a lot was known by any Dons fans when the shot-stopper, who hails from the Netherlands, joined the club to compete with then number one James Shea.
However, a brief bit of research at the time would show that he was clearly a well-thought about goalkeeping prospect, having spent a large amount of his youth career at Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven before going on to have trials with multiple Premier League sides such as Liverpool following a hugely impressive spell with Nuneaton Borough in 2014.
It would be Derby that snapped him up in the end, however, and to begin with, he would play second fiddle to the Rams' number one at the time, Lee Grant. He would get his opportunity to play for the East Midlands club's first team during his time there, keeping a solid clean sheet in the League Cup for the club.
Derby, though, felt that his development was perhaps better served out on loan, so he was sent to Rotherham United ahead of the 15/16 season, but it would not be long before his career looked as though it would turn to tatters.
A poor performance against MK Dons early on in the season led to heavy social media criticism, and just six weeks into his temporary spell with the Millers, then-manager Steve Evans sent him back to Derby, and the Dutchman would have to wait until Neal Ardley made the call to bring him to AFC Wimbledon.
At the Dons, he would very quickly show why Rotherham had perhaps done the wrong thing by cancelling his loan, as he made his debut just 12 days after signing in a mighty 4-1 win for the Dons over Luton Town, and from that point on, he would remain as the undisputed first choice, finishing the season with 20 appearances to his name, eight clean sheets, and countless important saves especially in the playoff semi-final first leg very soon after the Dons had taken a late lead at home to Accrington Stanley.
And then in the 2016 play-off final against Plymouth Argyle, where he would earn that eighth and final clean sheet, with saves made from Plymouth's attempts from distance.
Roos would head back to Derby that summer with a lot of Dons fans clamouring for his signature once again now the club were in League One, but he did leave with his head held high, knowing that he had ultimately proved Steve Evans wrong about his qualities, which have been proven again in his career since, with the Dutchman providing competitive back up at Derby until 2022, as well as at many other clubs where he spent time on long and short term loan deals.
As well as Roos benefiting from joining the club on loan, Wimbledon themselves also took a huge positive from the Dutchman's temporary spell, as without him, you could argue they would not be where they are today.
The Dons did not look likely to go up that season until after January, with the run of form that propelled the South West London side to the play-offs happening late on in the second half of the campaign, and that was, in part, thanks to Roos and the excellence he provided in defence.
There were the almighty efforts of the rest of the team, but without Roos providing that solid final backline to the team, there would have been no chance that the club would have put together the form to get into the play-offs in the first place, and then continue that momentum all the way through the playoffs right to promotion.
It also allowed goalkeeping coaching legend Ashley Bayes to earn the first feather in his cap when it came to developing a young goalkeeper.
Since Roos arrived, developed well and left as a much higher quality keeper, Bayzo, as he is affectionately known, has helped train goalkeepers such as George Long, Tom King and Aaron Ramsdale, all of whom now play in the top two tiers of English football, as well as those that have come through Wimbledon's academy and have gone on to clubs higher up the ladder such as Spike Brits and Joe Bursik.
So it is fair to say that without Roos ever being entrusted with the number one spot by Neal Ardley during his loan in that second half of the 15/16 season, then Wimbledon may not have had that promotion to League One and all the benefits that came with spending five years in the third tier, and Roos himself may have not forged the quietly impressive career he has had playing in England and Italy.
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