Jop van der Linden

Dutch centre half Jop van der Linden joined the Sky Blues from Eredivisie club AZ Alkmaar on a one year deal in July 2018. The recently turned 28-year old defender joins the Sky Blues after a successful eight seasons in the Dutch top divisions. Having started his career at Vitesse Arnhem, van der Linden joined Helmond Sport in 2010 where he twice helped the club to third place in Holland’s first division, both times narrowly missing out on promotion to the Eredivisie. The defender was transferred to Go Ahead Eagles in 2012 where he won promotion in his first year and spent the next two seasons in the top flight before winning a move to two-time Dutch Champions AZ Alkmaar ahead of the 2015-16 season. In 2017-18 van der Linden was loaned to Willem II in the Eredivisie where he played 18 times before joining Sydney FC.