Kelle Roos Agrees Two Year Deal with the Dons

Aberdeen FC has further strengthened its squad ahead of the 2022/23 campaign with the arrival of a new goalkeeper.

Kelle Roos has signed a pre-contract with the Dons and will join from Derby County on a two-year deal. The 30-year-old brings a vast amount of experience having made close to 100 appearances for the Pride Park side.

Kelle is a product of the PSV Eindhoven academy and a former Dutch youth internationalist.  The stopper first came to the attention of the top clubs down south after a successful spell at Nuneaton Borough and in January 2014 he signed for Championship side Derby County.

Since then, he has had a number of loan spells at Rotherham United, AFC Wimbledon, Bristol Rovers, Port Vale and Plymouth Argyle. In 2015/16 Kelle helped AFC Wimbledon achieve promotion to League One after keeping a clean sheet in the League Two play-off final at Wembley Stadium.

The keeper made his league debut for Derby in January 2019, and played for the rest of that season, making 24 appearances for the Frank Lampard’s side as Derby reached the Sky Bet Championship play-off Final at Wembley. Under Wayne Rooney he made 16 appearances in 2020/21 whilst battling for the number one jersey with Scotland’s David Marshall and 18 appearances for the Rams last season.

After ten years in England Kelle will move North, following in the footsteps of previous Dutch goalkeeper, Theo Snelders, who had a hugely successful career with the Dons and manager Jim Goodwin is delighted to be bringing a goalkeeper of real stature and ability to Pittodrie.

He said: “Kelle brings with him a wealth of experience and he will help to enhance the goalkeeping team we have at the Club.

“It’s vital we add quality to the squad this season so we’ve taken the time to identify the correct players with the attributes we feel will have a positive impact. Having played a significant number of games in the English Championship, Kelle ticks all those boxes for us.

“He is a very confident character and I’m sure he will be a popular addition to the dressing room.”