News Articles > Town player deemed not good enough by Cowley now playing in the Bundesliga

Town player deemed not good enough by Cowley now playing in the Bundesliga

30/06/2021

Having signed from Borussia Dortmund II in 2019, many Town fans had hopes that Herbert Bockhorn could emulate the previous success that Town enjoyed with the arrival of Jon Gorenc Stankovic, but unfortunately, it was the opposite.
It was a very testing season at Town for Bockhorn, Jan Siewert brought the Ugandan over with him from Borussia Dortmund II. With him having been named in all three of Jan's Championship matchday squads and after making his only start in the Carabao Cup, Herbert was never seen in the first-team squad again after the early sacking of Siewert. As reported by the Examiner, new Town manager Danny Cowley said that: "We, for whatever reason, are not so sure he is at this level." Which signaled the end of Herbert's Town career before it really even started.
It's fair to say that Bockhorn was clearly not rated by the club or management team and after only one year into his two-year deal, Bockhorn and Town mutually agreed to cancel his contract. He went onto sign for VFL Bochum in the second tier of German football, and it certainly has been a good move for him as he played a big role in their promotion to the Bundesliga.

The move to VFL Bochum

It did take Herbert some time to break into the first team at Bochum, he only made his first appearance at the end of November and it still took him 5 substitute appearances (where he recorded 2 assists) to be given his first start, which came in the new year. He made his first start at right-back before being played as a right and left attacking midfielder for his next 7 starts. He scored his only goal of the season against FC Heidenheim playing as a left-back as Bochum won 2-0 away, with Bockhorn picking up the player of the match award in the process.
Bockhorn finished the season firmly in the Bochum starting 11, having made 17 starts and 7 substitute appearances. In total he played 1383 minutes, scoring once and assisting twice, he averaged a match rating of 6.79, which put him 10th in the Bochum squad. For reference, that rating would have put him third in the Town squad.

Was it a mistake to let him leave?

It is easy to look back and say, we shouldn't have let him go or to say the level that he is playing at is not the same as the Championship, but if you look at the players we signed and sold to German side, it would seem Bockhorn has done an excellent job to revive his career. Town legend Christopher Schindler signed for Nurnberg who finished 11th in the same division last season, while Rajiv Van La Parra played for the team that finished bottom and Chris Lowe got promoted into it from the division below. So the league does seem to be comeptitive and at a level similar to the Championship.
Sometimes players need to leave to get their career back on track and while no Town fans would have questioned the decision to let him go considering that he couldn't even make the bench when Town had that injury crisis in November 2019, you do have to ask questions. How come nobody at the club, let alone the manager at the time Danny Cowley, see nothing in him as a player. Not many players, especially at the age of 25, don't just transform into a player with the quality needed to nail down a starting spot in a team being promoted into the top division in Germany overnight. You could say that Bockhorn has been played primarily as an attacker in the Bochum side and not as a defender like how Town signed him as, but it was known that Bockhorn could play either side at the back and on the wing. There is an argument to say that Bockhorn suits German football better or that you couldn't take a risk by playing him given the situation we were in last season, both are valid arguments, but it doesn't explain why the club just gave up on him entirely.

I think there was a bit of premeditated bias against Bockhorn when the Cowley's came in. I don't think this was solely against him though, a lot of the Town team that played against Lincoln in the cup seemed to suffer the same treatment. Josh Koroma, Isaac Mbenza, Reece Brown, Jaden Brown, Jon Gorenc Stankovic, Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Herbert Bockhorn and Ryan Schofield all started against Lincoln and all played less than 20 games for Town that season. That is 8 players in the starting lineup that didn't really get a look in last season - seems like the Cowleys were left unimpressed by their performance against Lincoln. Only Jaden Brown in that list did not play over 20 games for their respective sides this season. I don't think it helped that Bockhorn was defending either against Harry Toffolo in that right flank and we know how good Toff is going forward.
I think Town were right to let him go for the sake of his career, but it does raise questions of last season's coaching and how they were deeming if players were 'good enough.' I hope the same treatment isn't given to Reece Brown who is returning from a loan move with Peterborough or to any other player in the Town squad who Town are not sure if they are good enough.