Opinion: Is Dwight Tiendalli A Good Addition?

New pictures emerged of the squad training this week but a shock arose amongst fans as we saw a mystery man lurking in the background of some of the photos taken by the official photographer. Credit to our editor Tom for spotting that this unsuspected character was in fact Dwight Tiendalli the former Swansea City man!

The 30 year old, who plays as a full back, is on trial with the club over the pre-season period and is a free agent due to being released from the Swans in 2015. The Dutch international would be a great addition to the side in my opinion, because we are lacking in the full back department.

Shotton, another new singing from Derby County, can fill in if need be in the fullback position but having asked a lot of fans, many prefer him to play as centre back and he does look more comfortable in a more central role. So that leaves us a bit bare out wide and with the amount of games that we have to play, Caddis and Grounds will both get too tired to play them all. Therefore, rotation is key and the modern day full back is expected to get forward and back a lot more than in the past, so it will be hard to maintain this stamina over a full season.

In terms of whether Tiendalli is the right man to fill this position, I must say, I think he is. I have seen him a few times live, when he has played for Swansea, and I noticed him from the start. His pace wasn’t as quick as I was hoping, but his final ball was often very very good and so can give more of an attacking option than Grounds. He also has really good connections with players in front of him. I noticed that he often played the ball as a 1-2 to players in the middle of the park as well as his winger. He likes to play safe which shows that he is meant to be a defender.

Having not played football for a whole season, his fitness and match sharpness may be questioned so I urge fans to keep the faith if we do sign him and not judge him based on a few friendlies. It will take time for all signings to embed with the other players and the new style that Rowett likes to play. But I believe Tiendalli can give us some stability defensively that we have been lacking by letting crosses come in too easily.