Bodø Glimt, Football | Surprised by the Glimt signing: – They saw no future for ham
Nettavisen shows Bodø/Glimt’s training match against Viking on Thursday at 16:00. Watch the match direct her with a Nettavisen+ or Direktesport subscription.
Tuesday confirmed Bodø/Glimt that they have signed 18-year-old Jeppe Kjær. The Dane became the youngest debutant in the Danish Superliga when he made his debut on the day he turned 16.
In the summer of 2020, he was brought to the big club Ajax for around 20 million kroner, but more than a year later he continues his career in Norway and Glimt.
Nettavisen has been in contact with Norwegian talent scout Stig Thorbjørnsen about Kjær. He remembers well the extreme attention it was around the youngster after the debut, but thinks that it has happened since that time.
– He has not done anything in the Netherlands, where he has played on the U19 team for Ajax. They saw no future for him there and his agents have probably called all the clubs in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. I myself have been called, begins the scout above Nettavisen.
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– Perhaps one of the best things he could have chosen
Thorbjørnsen currently works for Swedish IFK Göteborg and has a good overview of players in Scandinavia. He believes that Horsens, which was the club where Kjær made his debut, used the attention “for all it was worth”.
However, the Norwegian talent scout is not completely convinced of the quality of the 18-year-old as of today. In Ajax, he never made his debut, and had to settle for fighting in the second team «Jong Ajax».
– The player was a huge talent and I was actually present at the match where he made his debut in Denmark, he says.
Thorbjørnsen says he will be surprised if Glimt succeeds in “getting” Kjær, but points out that Glimt has a good history with Danes in the past. In the past, Kasper Junker and Philip Zinckernagel have been enormous success stories at Aspmyra.
– It is perhaps one of the best things he could have chosen. Glimt has succeeded in speeding up “separated” players before, they should be praised for that and I think they can get him going, he continues.
– No one was interested
The former Rosenborg and IFK Norrköping scout has a clear idea of why Kjetil Knutsen and Glimt have gone “all in” to secure the Dane. He believes it is the story of a great Danish talent who plays on the wing and has experience from Ajax, who has lit up the Bodø club.
– It’s a role-playing game. Ajax is a good school, but it is a fact that no Danish clubs were particularly interested in bringing him back, Thorbjørnsen believes.
Bodø/Glimt have also brought in Danish Adam Sørensen from Lyngby this winter. From before, Denmark is represented by Japhet Sery Larsen and Albert Grønbæk at Aspmyra.
The latter was brought in this summer from AGF Aarhus. The price tag was a whopping DKK 26 million, which is a huge price tag for a player who moves from Denmark to Norway. Football expert Jesper Mathisen was among those who were stunned by the award.
– There are some who follow Danish football closely who did not quite understand why Glimt paid so much. A player who came with a solid price tag, but I have faith that he can be a success. It is quite a wild price tag for someone who has not wreaked havoc in Danish football, he told Nettavisen.
In addition to Jeppe Kjær and Adam Sørensen, Bodø/Glimt have also brought in Faris Pemi from Kristiansund, Odin Bjørtuft from Odd, Fredrik Bjørkan from Hertha Berlin and Omar Elabdellaoui, whose contract was terminated at Galatasaray.
Glimt meets Viking for a training match in Alicante, Spain. The match will be broadcast live by Nettavisen at 16:00.