The battle for the football millions, the OBOS league | Stabæk sold the super talent for tens of millions. Then everything went wrong:
NADDERUD STADIUM (Nettavisen): Stabæk is known for being among the country’s largest and best talent factories.
The club has sold off several of its biggest profiles in recent seasons, and in December last year everything went wrong when Stabæk had to take the heavy road down to the OBOS league.
Well, they are facing a new everyday life after being relegated from the Elite Series. A clear goal of direct promotion, on the other hand, does not change the philosophy of developing young talents to become top players.
– We have an idea to use young players in the OBOS league as well, to be able to provide an experience that has been worth a possible promotion. It is without a doubt a tough road to go, but we stand by that philosophy, says sports director Torgeir Bjarmann to Nettavisen.
It is precisely this attitude that has meant that the bærum club has made large profits in recent years, despite the lack of sporting results.
– What Stabæk has done in recent years with player sales, without having played the European Cup and without top places in the Eliteserien, has simply been fantastic, Bjarmann continues.
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– Great challenges
For several years, the club has accounted for several of the largest sales from the Norwegian top division abroad. Among other things, they sold Kristoffer Askildsen for around 25 million to Italian Sampdoria and Tobias Børkeeiet to Brøndby for just under 15 million kroner.
The common denominator for the two is that the Elite Series club lost their talents before they had barely turned 20 years old.
– Stabæk’s big challenges are to keep players over time, because we experience that all players have to go out, all the time. It will hopefully calm down a bit if you get better facilities and show that you are a professional club and have ambitions, Bjarmann said when Nettavisen visited Nadderud in November.
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He has been an honest factor in selling when the larger sums have come to the table.
– We have sold players for big summers, and there are many who must have earned for. The academy has done a brilliant job, for it is largely that self-produced players have sold. The gain has therefore been great, in that we do not have to buy the players first.
– Depending on player sales
Over the past year, performance on the field has declined, but the sale of Emil Bohinen to Russian CSKA Moscow taxed a significant capital growth. Bohinen was sent on to Salernitana in Italy as early as January.
The super talent Antonio Nusa had his big breakthrough in 2021 and in the summer window Banket Club Brugge around 40 million on the table, and brought the 16-year-old.
– The sale of Emil Bohinen and Antonio Nusa means that today we are in new barracks, can hire more full-time coaches and provide some opportunities that were not there before. At the same time, it gives us peace of mind that we can continue to invest. Stabæk has built up a good equity well, so many of the funds go back to the club. We do not have too much income, outside of player sales, so you are dependent on player sales.
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On the other hand, it was not in the club’s plans to sell the jewel that came from Langhus shortly before he moved on to the Belgian big club.
– We never planned to sell it to Antonio Nusa, because we had already completed the sale that brought in the money we had expected, in Bohinen. It therefore took an extraordinary bid for us to agree to sell Nusa, as it did in the end.
And continues:
– Almost all the clubs in Norway had probably sold Antonio for the sum we got, with six games in the Elite Series. He resigned for us once, and could not train with the A-team under the corona, because it was not possible to vary the training between the junior and senior team. So we got a lot of money for a player without my senior experience.
«Norway’s response to North Zealand»
In Scandinavia, it is seen that Danish clubs sell players for significantly higher summers than both Norway and Sweden. One of those who has made the very best store is North Zealand.
The small club from the town of Farum has sold players for over one billion in recent years, after a major investment in young talent. The team is among Europe’s youngest, based on the average age of the squad.
– North Zealand has gone its own way, which has worked very well for them. Overall, Stabæk probably has greater ambitions at the sporting level in terms of results when it comes to positioning it with a new stadium. North Zealand actually has a pure business model. Yes, they have had some seasons where they have done well, but ultimately they set the stage for reselling and developing sales objects.
Overview of transitions: Norway, Denmark and Sweden in the period 2019-2021
Seasons 2021/2022:
Norway:
Antonio Nusa – Stabæk to Club Brugge – Around 35 million kroner
Kristoffer Klaesson – Vålerenga to Leeds – About 20 million kroner
Stian Gregersen – Molde to Bordeaux – About 20 million kroner
Denmark:
Kamaldeen Sulemana – North Zealand to Rennes – Around 180 million kroner
Mohamed Daramy – FC Copenhagen to Ajax – Around 150 million kroner
Frank Onyeka – FC Midtjylland to Brentford – Around 110 million kroner
Sweden:
Sead Haksabanovic – IFK Norrköping to Rubin Kazan – Around 70 million
Isak Bergmann Jóhannesson – IFK Norrköping to FC Copenhagen – Around 50 million
Joseph Okumu – Elfsborg to KAA Gent – About 40 million
2020/2021 seasons:
Norway:
Jens Petter Hauge – Bodø / Glimt to AC Milan – Around 50 million kroner
Kristoffer Askildsen – Stabæk to Sampdoria – Around 25 million kroner
Kasper Junker – Bodø / Glimt to Urawa Reds – About 20 million kroner
Total sales amount in 2020: NOK 277 million
Denmark:
Mohammed Kudus – North Zealand to Ajax – Around 110 million kroner
Mikkel Damsgaard – North Zealand to Sampdoria – Around 80 million kroner
Isaac Atanga – North Zealand to Cincinnati – About 50 million kroner
Total sales amount in 2020: NOK 525 million
Sweden:
Pontus Almqvist – IFK Norrköping to Rostov – Around 45 million kroner
Jesper Karlsson – Elfsborg to AZ Alkmaar – Around 30 million kroner
Armin Gigovic – Helsingborg to Rostov – About 30 million
Total sales amount in 2020: NOK 295 million
2019/2020 seasons:
Norway:
Håkon Evjen – Bodø / Glimt to AZ Alkmaar – Around NOK 25 million
Chidera Ejuke – Vålerenga to Heerenveen – Around 20 million kroner
Kristian Thorstvedt – Viking to KRC Genk – About 15 million kroner
Total sales amount for 2019: NOK 269 million
Denmark:
Dennis Vavro – FC Copenhagen to Lazio – Around 110 million kroner
Robert Skov – FC Copenhagen to Hoffenheim – Around 100 million kroner
Jesse Joronen – FC Copenhagen to Brescia – Around 60 million kroner
Total sales amount for 2019: NOK 710 million
Sweden:
Marcus Danielsson – Djurgården to DL Pro – Around 50 million kroner
Jordan Larsson – Norrköping to Spartak Moscow – About 40 million kroner
Odilon Kossounou – Hammarby to Club Brugge – Around 40 million kroner
Total sales amount for 2019: NOK 356 million
Source: Transfer Market and FIFA’s Global Transfer Market Report 2019 and 2020 (the report for 2021 is per day date not published).
Several Nettavisen have talked to often pull from Stabæk as the closest man comes a North Zealand model here in Norway. Bjarmann, on the other hand, believes that it does not necessarily quite fit with reality.
– Stabæk wants something in between, because they have won here before and have a desire to see if they can become a top team again. The pure North Zealand model is probably not something for us, but we want to take some of it out. We always have a goal of playing with young players, but the average age of a student will never be a very big focus, he says.
This is how North Zealand found the Norwegian great talent Andreas Schjelderup:
OBOS upcoming season
After a failed season in last year’s Elite Series, the talent factory is embarking on a new season with the same philosophy.
– We have an idea to use young players in the OBOS league as well, to be able to provide an experience that has been worth a possible promotion. It is undoubtedly a tough road to go, but we stand by that philosophy.
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– The biggest challenge last year was that our established players underperformed, so we have to meet the older ones we pick up this year. The young people did well, and we were probably the team that, with a good margin, used the most young players. There were other things that ruined.
He adds that the goal is of course to take the step straight up again. It makes demands on the types of players you want to be before the coming season.
– It will soon be the toughest OBOS league ever, so we need players who know what they are going for. Player types like Simen Wangberg are a good example of established players who need to be used in a promotion season from OBOS, so they are looking for. Everyone is to blame for the relegation, and we believe that you should take that responsibility, both players and support staff.
Stabæk opens the OBOS season away against Skeid on April 4 on Nordre Åsen. The team plays its first training match of the year against Lillestrøm on Friday 14:00, and you can watch the match on Direktesport.