This is a guest post written by Frenchst, the owner of www.FMGamer.eu. He has been managing central Swedish side Örebro SK in Football Manager 2013. You can follow his progress with Örebro SK here. For Football Manager Stories, he investigates the increased value you can now find in the Scandinavian transfer market and gives you a list of the best FM 2013 players in the region.
A variety of true Football Manager legends have hailed from Scandinavia: Sharbel Touma, Nicklas Barkroth and Kennedy Bakircioglu to name just three. And if you want to stretch the geographical boundaries of the region, Andri Sigporsson from Iceland was perhaps the most famous of the ‘cult heroes’.
The above players could all be signed for relatively low amounts and – truth be told, just among friends – their legendary status was unworthy of their real life ability. With these ‘super players’ either excluded from the game or their respective abilities returned to reality, only the very best Scandinvian players were worthy of signing – and they didn’t come cheap. Alongside this, ability never tended to match the lofty price tags and I was all to often repelled from buying in this particular market.
In Football Manager 2013, this pattern seems to have been broken. The very first thing I noticed when on my usual multi-club trawl for bargains was that players in Sweden, Denmark and, in particular, Norway were very reasonably priced and with some talent to go alongside that. Intrigued by what Scandinavia had to offer to FM13, I started a season in the Swedish Premier League – Allsvenskan — with Örebro. During our summer break of 2012, I went on a Scandinavian scouting trip to see what I could find.
Tromsø IL will be a club familiar to those of us who remember watching the UEFA Cup Winners Cup on Thursday evenings. It seemed to be a tournament they were perpetually qualifying for and playing in, most notably against Chelsea in the late nineties. Based in the extreme Norwegian north – Tromsø is located over 200 miles inside the arctic circle – scouting them seemed like a good place to start before working my way south.
Ruben Yttergard Jenssen (Norwegian, 23) is best utilised as a deep lying playermaker in the centre of midfield. His most impressive stats (16 or above) are for his first touch, passing, technique, creativity, determination, flair and natural fitness. At a glance, his mental stats was highly impressive and he should be a player who will respond to a challenge. His initial value of £725k ensures he can be picked up on even the tightest of budgets. I found him to be a hugely effective ball-player, always keen to find space in order to pick passes.
His team-mate Kara (Senegalese, 22) is a bit of a FM stalwart now but his ability has not diminished through time. Operating best as an anchoring defensive midfielder, his best attributes are his tackling, bravery, determination, strength, stamina, heading and jumping. Standing 192cm tall, he is a formidable player to have sitting in front of your defence. On a good day, you should be be able to sign up for around £2m. Indeed, pairing Jenssen and Kara is not the worst idea in the world.
Moving further down the western coast of Sweden, you arrive in the city of Trondheim, home of Rosenborg BK. Perhaps the strongest and most recognisable power in Scandinavian football in modern times, they contribute three of the best value players to my scouting list. 17 year-old Ole Kristian Selnaes (Norwegian) has a huge amount of potential and already scores 16 or above on passing, technique, corners, first touch, composure, creativity and decision making. Tall and with years of improvement to come, his starting value of £22k is incredible.
His team-mate Borek Dockal (Czech, 23) operates best as an attacking winger on the right side but can really play anywhere along the midfield. He was my first signing in any FM13 game – for Ajax – and he cost me less than £400k. He was playing just behind the strikers and was lethal from around 20 yards. He is easily the best player I have signed so far on the game.
Stefan Strandberg (Norwegian, 21) is a central defender with strong technical and physical stats for his position and he still has more than enough time to improve. He represents astounding value at just £28k. A meal in Trondheim is more expensive.
Molde is located yet further down the coast from Trondheim and they have been the subject of some positive press in the UK recently: their manager is the soon-to-be-sought-after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and they have just retained the Tippeliegaen championship. Valued at £2.2m, Magnus Wolff Eikrem (Norwegian, 21) is the most expensive player on my list but he does merit mention given his attributes. He is a player who will sit behind the strikers and dictate forward play. He doesn’t represent as good value as, say, Borek Dockal but if you have a transfer budget that extends this far he is still a worthwhile buy.
Team-mate Etzaz Hussain (Norwegian, 18) is a cheaper option (starting at £550k) and he still has three or four years of improvement before reaching the peak of his attributes. Operating best as a deep lying playmaker, he has attributes that suggest he would comfortably control midfield play if used as part of a balanced selection.
Taking a detour to Denmark before returning to my duties in central Sweden, Nicklas Helenius (Danish, 20) is a giant of a striker (195cm tall) with excellent finishing and jumping attributes. His quickness over ground is impressive given his size and his mental stats indicate he would respond to your attempts to improve his play. His heading does need worked on (utilise your individual focus in training for this) but for less than £1m, he still represents great value. A tall, Danish striker called Nicklas: if that sounds familiar, just hope that the career trajectory won’t be.
One final stop at Helsingborg unearths left full-back Jere Uronen (Finnish, 17). Valued at just £55k, there is plenty of time and room for improvement. His initial attributes are good if not spectacular but you will sign a lot worse players for a lot more money.
Young, talented players with room to develop and improve are in plentiful supply in Scandinavia. With eastern European players becoming ever more expensive (given the influx of cash in that area), I can now see myself turning almost automatically to northern Europe to find the best players. Managing Örebro has opened my eyes to this changing scenery and I am hoping that I too can take advantage of the friendly transfer market conditions in the region.
vaibhavc
12 ноября, 2012 at 17:52
Some of these players are incredible and are so cheap. I can sign some of these players on my Everton save. Thanks!
Kenneth Klausen
12 ноября, 2012 at 18:36
This is okay but the last 5 years the danish superliga is much better than the norwegian and swedish league, you can also see that in the european football the last couple of years.
Many really good players in the danish league should be in this list.
A french side mention 2 danish future stars everybody should look at.
2 of the biggest talents that many can buy for a good price is Andreas Cornelius 18 years a very strong and promising target player from fc copenhagen. he scored 7 goals in 15 matches in his first season in the premier league for newcastle im buyed him for only 25 mio danish kroner.
Jores Okore from this years champions league qualifers Fcn, is a very strong and good defender only 19/20. Buy him for only 12 mio danish kroner and he is already a key player for newcastle in my first season. he got 4 times young player of the month in the premier league in his first season!! Crazy!!
Darren Smith
12 ноября, 2012 at 19:20
Excellent post, well done! Very well structured, informative and considering I’d usually be tempted to scroll straight to the names, I actually got engrossed in your writing too. Would welcome more guest posts from you sir, very nice.
saltwater
12 ноября, 2012 at 20:18
I’ve always believed in getting young players from less well known countries for cheap prices and this will help me immensely. Thanks, still can’t believe they’re all so cheap!
denson
12 ноября, 2012 at 20:27
Thanks for all these Johnny, Quick question, Will the people doing stories on the main site last year be doing them again on the main site this year?
denson
12 ноября, 2012 at 20:35
and also, I am starting a save like you did last year with Viitorul, in the same type of league, What would you reccomend to do first and what type of players would you go for? Thanks
Niels Theis Bendtsen
12 ноября, 2012 at 20:44
I can help you with that. There will be no stories on the main site, that is what the exellent forum is for.
Johnny Karp
13 ноября, 2012 at 11:40
Yes, Niels has the correct answer :)
Johnny Karp
13 ноября, 2012 at 11:39
Good players for the kind of football you want to play, I don’t have a magic recipe. But I always tried to bring in young players which can at least be resold for a higher value.
denson
13 ноября, 2012 at 16:27
Thanks
Chai Chien Liang
12 ноября, 2012 at 23:08
Well written post Frenchst, I am really impressed with these trio from Rosenborg, will definitely take a look at them in my new game, are there any good young Swedish players to recommend?
Thanks to Johnny for sharing
Bjørk Lange
13 ноября, 2012 at 11:49
Nice post, but as I am living in Denmark I can say that all Scandinavia is certainly not Arctic, so maybe a little misplaced title. Apart from that, well written and the players mentioned are all good. But of course some players are missing.
Andreas Cornelius, FC København
Jores Okore, FC Nordsjælland
These two young guys are already stars in the Danish Superliga, and have also both had debut on the Danish national team.
From Denmark there is also 3 promising young Nigerians from FC Midtjylland:
Sylvester Igboun
Izunna Uzochukwu
Rilwan Hassan
All 3 are good, but especially Sylvester and Izunna can play for mid table teams in most of Europa I think.
Other good players in Denmark, is Marvin Pourie of Silkeborg, a fast poacher type. Emil Larsen, Rasmus Falk and Baskim Kadrii from OB. Kasper Kusk from Aab. And a promising Danish U21 keeper Frederik Rønnow from AC Horsens.
At Elfsborg in Sweden there is of course Oskar Hiljemark, as you may know from this site, which can become very good, but also Viktor Claesson who looks promising.
Bjørk Lange
13 ноября, 2012 at 11:52
Forgot Jonas Svensson from Rosenborg, and Casper Sloth from my own favorit club AGF Aarhus <3
frenchst
13 ноября, 2012 at 15:15
Hi guys,
Thanks to everyone for their comments! Much appreciated.
Bjork, I used the term ‘Arctic’ as more of a stylish thing for the title of the articles! Indeed, only Tromso fits into that category. Please accept my apologies if you found that intentional inaccuracy offensive in any way.
Of course, the players I list are the ones that I’ve personally found so if I’ve made any glaring omissions, I’ve not necessarily ignored them — I just haven’t reached them yet! I’m delighted to see some more players suggested and they will be on my next list. Hopefully everyone else who reads here will leave with excellent suggestions for Scandinavian players. I must say it was a pleasure to write on FM Stories and to I am very humbled by the amount of people who have responded with comments and, of course, their own suggestions.
The second part of my Örebro story is now online at http://www.fmgamer.eu.
Take care,
frenchst.
Bjørk Lange
13 ноября, 2012 at 22:18
Hi frenchst
Don’t get me wrong, no offence taken at all, so no need to apologise :)
My comment was more meant as information if someone might were mistaken that all of Scandinavia is Arctic. I now live in Denmark, but originally from Greenland. So I am certainly aware of the contrast and big differnce between those regions. But thank you again for the great initiative this post is!
danny
14 ноября, 2012 at 15:18
i have to recommend thomas drage from tromso. He’s 20/21, an AMC, who becomes ridiculously good. Costs bout 1M, sometimes less
Einar Tingström
15 ноября, 2012 at 22:39
Some other great players are Oskar Hiljemark (Elfsborg), Simon Tibbling (Djurgården) and Jonas Svensson (Rosenborg)
Benjamin
2 апреля, 2013 at 08:45
I’m from Denmark myself and just two days ago, I started t career with Brøndby IF, and I warmly recommend Simon Makienok, one of the best target mens in Denmark and a good one international too, with at jump power of 20, which make it impossible for other players to win fight in the air! :)
stenen06
25 апреля, 2013 at 22:05
Celso Borges is also a good striker who you find in the biggest team of Sweden A.I.K.
robjed
28 апреля, 2013 at 22:28
Got Ole Kristian selnaes in my Wolves team excellent player… try also Thomas Drage (Norwegien) starts a bit erratic but with training is fab… also Mads Albaek (danish)