Kevin van Veen

Kevin van Veen (born 1 June 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward for Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock, on loan from Eerste Divisie side Groningen.

A youth product of PSV Eindhoven, van Veen had to work his way through the Dutch leagues, playing for Helmond Sport, Dijkse Boys, UDI '19, JVC Cuijk and FC Oss.

Scoring double figure goals each season, van Veen earnt a move to English League One club, Scunthorpe United.

Van Veen spent a year a Cambuur, on loan, and a year at Northampton Town before returning to Scunthorpe.

He was tempted back into the professional game by Helmond Sport in 2005.

He was promoted to the first team in 2010.

He went on to make six appearances for Helmond Sport.

Van Veen would go on to play for Dijkse Boys, UDI '19 and JVC Cuijk.

In each season, van Veen would score over 15 goals, earning him a move back into the Eerste Divisie.

In July 2014, it was announced that FC Oss had signed van Veen on a one–year contract.

After making his FC Oss debut, van Veen scored a hat–trick in the next game on 15 August 2014, in a 3–0 win over RKC Waalwijk.

van Veen then scored consecutively on two occasions; the first one came when he scored two goals in two games between 25 August and 30 August against VVV-Venlo and De Graafschap and the second one came when he scored three goals in three games between 3 October and 26 October against MVV Maastricht, Eindhoven and N.E.C. He then scored his second FC Oss hat–trick but was sent–off for the second bookable offence, in a 5–4 win over Fortuna Sittard on 12 December.

At the end of the 2014–15 season, van Veen went on to make twenty appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.

After returning from suspension, van Veen scored his third FC Oss hat–trick on 23 January 2015, in a 4–1 win over Almere City.

Amid to scoring sixteen goals in twenty–one appearances, van Veen was linked a move away from FC Oss, attracting interests from English clubs in League One.

In the January transfer window, van Veen was a subject of a transfer bid from English side Scunthorpe United on 28 January 2015.

The move was confirmed on 30 January, with van Veen signing a three-and-a half year deal for an undisclosed fee.

On 7 February, van Veen made his Scunthorpe United debut, coming on as a second-half substitute, in a 1–0 loss against Oldham Athletic.

A week later, he scored his first goal for the club by chipping past Wes Foderingham, in a 3–1 win over Swindon Town.

After the match, Manager Mark Robins commented on his first goal, quoting: "His goal was joy to behold. He is a really confident lad and confident in his ability to put the ball in the net."

He scored again on 21 March, in a 3–1 loss against Rochdale.

At the start of the 2015–16 season, van Veen remained a first team regular at the club despite being featured most of the first half of the season on the substitute bench.

However, in a 0–0 draw against Millwall on 22 August, he suffered a head injury and had to be substituted in the second half as a result.

Eventually, he recovered in time for the match against Colchester United on 29 August, and scored in a 2–2 draw.

This earned him the club's Goal of the Month for August.

His second goal came on 10 October, in a 4–2 win over Oldham Athletic.

However, van Veen soon lost his first team place throughout the first half of the season.

Although he was loaned out for the second half of the season, he went on to make twenty–five appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.

Ahead of the 2016–17 season, van Veen was given a number ten shirt for the new season.

He started the 2016–17 season when he scored in the opening game of the season, in a 3–1 win over Bristol Rovers.

van Veen also scored four goals throughout August against Notts County (twice), Fleetwood Town (in which he was later voted Goal of the Season) and Gillingham.

van Veen then established himself in the first team for the side this season, forming a striking partnership with Paddy Madden.

By the end of 2016, he scored four league goals for the side and his performance attracted interest from Chinese Super League side Henan Jianye, who had their £4 million bid rejected.

Manager Graham Alexander confirmed that the bid had been rejected, citing his desire to keep him.

Despite this, van Veen continued to remain in the first team for the rest of the 2016–17 season, in which he scored two more goals against Charlton Athletic and Coventry City.

His goal against Coventry City earned him April's Goal of the Month.

After being released by Scunthorpe at the end of 2020–21 season, van Veen joined Scottish Premiership side Motherwell.

In his second season, van Veen was named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year and was nominated for the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year award.

Born in Eindhoven, Netherlands, van Veen started out playing football at PSV.

He spent six years at the academy before being released by PSV, due to his height – this broke a teenage van Veen, who opted to just play amateur football and began plastering.