Joel Veltman is the Albion’s Mr Dependable

Brighton defender Joel Veltman has signed a new two-year contract with the Albion – and only Seagulls supporters know just how important that is.

Veltman is one of those players criminally underrated by the rest of football. To appreciate just how good he is, you have to watch him every week. Then you realise he hardly ever has a bad game.

Such dependability often escapes even the greatest footballers, who will have a wobble from time-to-time. Take Lewis Dunk for example.

The Brighton captain is rightly acknowledged as one of the best defenders in the Premier League. Even Gareth Southgate begrudgingly admitted as much when recalling Dunk to the England squad for June internationals against Malta and North Macedonia after a five year absence.

And yet Dunk is still good for up to five bad matches per season. Own goals, conceding questionable penalties, sometimes being caught out of position.

It has been sometime since he picked up a braindead red card, but unnecessarily dismissals used to be an accepted part of his game. And it if can happen to Dunk, it can happen to anyone.

Except it seems, Veltman. Since signing from Ajax for a bargain £900,000 in the summer of 2020, Veltman has made 106 appearances in all competitions.

How many poor performances can you recall from those 106? There is an argument to be made that Joel Veltman is one of the most dependable players ever to play for Brighton.

Veltman has played right wing back, right back, right sided centre back in a three and right sided centre back in a two. Whatever role either Graham Potter or Roberto De Zerbi have given him, he always delivers a consistent 7/10 performance.

This consistency often goes under the radar. Fans of other clubs and pundits who only see Veltman on television miss what he does.

He does not grab attention by getting forward and contributing goals and assists, ala Pervis Estupinan or Pascal Gross when used at right back. Veltman does not have the explosive pace of Tariq Lamptey.

Instead, he diligently defends. He rarely wastes a pass. He oozes football intelligent, as you would expect from a player born and raised in Ajax’s famous academy and who went onto play 220 times for the Dutch giants.

The blind spot much of football has when it comes to Veltman also incredibly extends to the current Dutch national team.

Veltman made his Netherlands debut in 2013 and although he has 28 caps, he has played only two minutes for his country since November 2020. The last time he was called up for international duty was for the European Championships two summers ago.

It seems bizarre that one of the most trusted players in a Brighton squad who are the sixth best in the toughest league in Europe is not considered good enough to play for the Netherlands.

Southgate is clearly not the only international manager with a blind spot when it comes to what is going on at the Amex.

The way Veltman is overlooked by the Netherlands and not given anywhere near as much credit as he deserves for his performances in the Premier League explains why “underrated” and “undervalued” are two of the most frequent words used to describe the defender.

But to apply those to the opinion Brighton supporters have of Veltman is not really fair. The universal relief which greeted the news he had signed his new contract is testament to the high regard he is held in by Albion fans.

Whilst blockbuster goals and dazzling skills stick in the minds of football supporters for many years, how many followers of other clubs ever recall man marking jobs in amongst memorable individual displays?

Brighton fans do that with Veltman. Jack Grealish when he was Aston Villa talisman was silenced by Veltman during the lockdown season.

Whisper it quietly for fear of praising Wilfried Zaha, but virtually every Brighton right back who has played against Crystal Palace’s star winger has struggled.

Not Veltman, who pockets Zaha on each occasion. The job Veltman did when the Albion beat Palace for the first time in eight attempts back in March was so good that the Brighton Twitter account uploaded highlights from it to celebrate the new contract.

Any excuse to relive this performance against Palace… 😮‍💨🔥 @Joel_Veltman 👊 pic.twitter.com/8DKCRlzZqJ

— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) July 3, 2023

The Albion will surely not mind that Veltman’s contribution to their transformation from relegation candidates to club playing Europa League football has gone under the radar.

If others were aware of just how good Veltman is, then Brighton would surely have faced more of a battle to keep him as his contract ticked down.

Veltman was tentatively linked with moves to Spain, Italy and Germany. He even commented himself back in April: “I’m having a good time in England, but Italy or Spain would be nice.”

Most other players publicly linking themselves with a move from the Amex would have garnered some sort of backlash from fans.

Not Veltman, though; again, his popularity is such that most Brighton fans said it he wanted to leave for one last big contract on the continent, he should be allowed to do so for his three seasons of sterling service rather than the Albion forcing him to stay by activating the extra year option in his deal.

That has not been necessary with Veltman instead agreeing to stay until 2025, taking him up to the age of 33. Who knows what his Brighton future will be by that point, but the one thing everyone can agree on is that Joel Veltman is the Albion’s Mr Dependable.

And you will not find anyone underrating just how good he is around these parts. The Seagulls are lucky to have him.