The battle for the football millions, the elite series | Goes really hard against Norwegian football:
He has been sports manager in Stabæk for a number of years. Now Inge André Olsen takes a stand against Norwegian football.
I have almost 10 years since Stabæk as sports manager before he moved to Denmark and became sports director for Aalborg BK in 2020.
In Denmark, Inge André Olsen, as in Stabæk, has had the main responsibility for the club’s purchase and sale of players. After half a year with his new employer, he could not help but notice different from Norway.
Because even though player exports have long been a million store for Norwegian clubs, the contrasts are great in relation to Denmark.
In the previous transfer window, Stabæk was responsible for the largest player sales in Norway when the super talent Antonio Nusa was sold to Belgian Club Brugge. The sale of the 16-year-old must have a total budget of around DKK 35 million.
In comparison, Danish North Zealand sold 19-year-old Kamaldeen Sulemana, considered one of the greatest talents in Danish football, to French Rennes for almost 200 million kroner in the same window. The Ghanaian joined the Danish club in January 2020 and played more than 40 matches before he was sold.
Well, Aalborg boss Olsen believes that Norwegian clubs often have to blame themselves for the sums not being higher for talents in this country.
– Norwegian clubs must be tougher and more aware of what they want for their players, and not let go of talents for small money, Olsen says clearly to Nettavisen.
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– FCK had sold for 120 million
The 2005 model Nusa entered the Norwegian scene as an explosion, and became an immediate hit on Nadderud when Janne Jönsson gave the winger the chance.
It ended with 13 matches and three goals for Stabæk’s A-team, before Belgian Club Brugge put the money on the table and picked up the star shot this summer.
Olsen believes Nusa was sold for small money in relation to what a Danish club could get for the same player.
– In FC Copenhagen, Nusa had cost 120 million, and not 30. It is a good deal for Stabæk, but if a club had come to FCK and offered 30 million for one of the country’s greatest talents, they would have just led you and sent you out the door, says Olsen.
Olsen also adds that Stabæk and FCK have different starting points and that a sale of Nusa was probably the choice for the club’s operations.
Nevertheless, he believes that it is important that Stabæk and other Norwegian clubs do not get carried away.
Olsen even tells about foreign clubs that still tried their hand during his time in Stabæk.
– We saw that clubs in, for example, the Netherlands came to us with an expectation that the maximum price of one of our players was one million euros, about ten million Norwegian kroner. Then they had pulled far, but the job we did was that we tried to stretch the minimum price as far as possible.
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– For example, look at top Italian clubs that are early on young talent in Scandinavia, and offer 200,000 to 300,000 euros for a young boy. Just forget it, then you will not recognize what players are worth. It costs money to develop a player, and then you should work to get proper value for money in the end, says Olsen.
However, the former Stabæk manager believes that there are many Norwegian clubs that are far from good enough to achieve just that.
Critical of Ull / Kisa’s prestige sale: – A bad deal
Olsen cites Ull / Kisa as an example.
This summer, the OBOS club was responsible for one of the major transitions in Norway when 17-year-old Elias Solberg left Ull / Kisa for the great power Juventus.
The midfielder has been one of the most talented players at the level in Norway, and got to finish the dream transfer to the Italian club.
The OBOS club must have received around four million kroner for the super talent, which Olsen describes as a “bad transition” for the team based at Jessheim.
– If you use Ull / Kisa as an example, they sold Elias Solberg to Juventus. Now I’m not quite sure of the exact price, but around three to four million kroner. Yes, then I mean they have made a bad deal. Had you put him in an Elite Series club and he had had his chances, clubs would have paid 10-15 million kroner for him. No doubt about it once, says Olsen.
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He believes that the agreement does not provide enough money to really give the club a boost in the long run, although it is probably a big agreement for Ull / Kisa.
– This is also a sale of a player, which is the greatest talent you have had in decades at the club, as you could get more out of the deal. Clubs often look to Norway to find young talent, as you can buy them for cheap money. There should be no reason for a Spanish player to cost ten times as much as a Norwegian, if the quality of the player is the same. You have to stop being so naive in Norwegian football, says a resigned Olsen.
The Aalborg boss believes that many European clubs see Norway as an “easy offer”, and go for the cheap deals for great talent.
– Foreign clubs sit and laugh at many Norwegian clubs, because they can send a letter that they want a talent on trial, and then do everything they can to get a parent. Because when that parent comes back to Norway, they have been convinced with the VIP lounge and everything, and firmly believe that you should accept that offer and get your son out to Europe, he says.
– They’re taking advantage of us
The general manager of Ull / Kisa, Andreas Aalbu, responds to the criticism from Olsen and believes that they got enough out of the agreement considering the terms they entered into the agreement with.
– For us, and the situation we are in, it was a nice price and an agreement we were happy with. Had we been a team that was in the upper half of the OBOS league, possibly a bottom team in the Elite Series, you would probably get a lot more money for the player. But that’s how it is, Aalbu tells Nettavisen.
Aalbu reveal that he is surprised that no Norwegian clubs signed up in the match for Solberg, but the interest was still great from foreign clubs.
Despite the interest – the club ended up selling the great talent for a few million.
– They probably take advantage of the fact that you are a less well-off club, because you have a bad artificial turf pitch and lack a massive arena. We could also get more money from other teams, but Elias himself wanted to go to Juventus, so we never had any intention of getting in the way.
– How did the negotiations with Juventus go?
– Her things went very fast. He was an age-specific national team player, who in many ways is free help to get interest. Elias signed a professional contract before the summer of 2020, and in his debut he won the match and played regularly throughout the year. Then we started working full time, and it was several Italian, Danish, Swedish, French, yes actual clubs from half of Europe, who signed up, says Aalbu.
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– Fantastic
Stabæk also experienced great interest from European clubs when the aforementioned Antonio Nusa was sold this summer.
Inge André Olsen’s successor as the club’s sports director, Torgeir Bjarmann, agrees that different to the biggest clubs in Denmark is large, but is clear the sale of Nusa was crucial for the club.
– I do not think a club like Viborg would have received 100 million for him either. If Antonio Nusa had been in the “right” club in Denmark, such as North Zealand, FC Copenhagen or Central Jutland, then it is clear that the sums had been completely different. This is something we, and others in Norway, must work for, Bjarmann tells Nettavisen.
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The Stabæk manager believes that the club’s finances must be improved if it is to be possible to sit on players for a longer period of time.
– We are completely dependent on selling players to keep the wheels in motion, and pay out salaries every month. Then it is difficult to be the tough dealer that many Danish clubs have managed to be in recent years, he continues.
– Are you satisfied with the agreement you got in the end?
– Try to find a sports manager in Norway who had not been satisfied with 35 million kroner for a 16-year-old, Bjarmann chuckles before he continues:
– We are also not the largest club in Norway, so the sum there is absolutely fantastic by Norwegian standards. It is also very good for Nusa himself when he has to step up. If you are an expensive young player in the club like Club Brugge, they will prioritize you in a completely different way. They have never spent so much money on such a young player before, so he will be put on from day one. He will experience a completely different everyday life, another young boy who travels for free to an academy, Bjarmann concludes.
Nusa has already made his debut for his new club, and got 28 minutes as a substitute in the cup match against KMSK Deinze just over a month ago. Nusa has also been on the bench in a league match for the team which is in 3rd place in the Jupiler League and still has an opportunity to secure European football even after the New Year.