When Jhonny van Beukering won hearts in quick succession: 'A lovely lad'

Retrospective on young striker Jhonny van Beukering's breakthrough at Vitesse around 1999, when the 18-year-old from Velp impressed manager Ronald Koeman as a promising talent.

This archive piece revisits Jhonny van Beukering's early career at Vitesse, when the teenager from Velp caught the eye of manager Ronald Koeman as a replacement for expensive signing Bob Peeters. At just 18, van Beukering had already impressed the club's youth academy with his goal-scoring instinct and ambition, telling academy head Joop Brand he would not return to the youth ranks. Scouts and coaches recognised his natural finishing ability, describing it with the German term 'Torinstinkt' — an innate gift for finding the net that cannot be taught.