Andreas Schjelderup admits he could have joined Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur earlier in his career amid reports linking the ‘next Erling Haaland’ with a move to Premier League leaders Arsenal, speaking to The Telegraph.
With his slick blonde hair, emphatic finishing ability and Norwegian roots, you can see why Schjelderup’s rapid rise to prominence over in Scandanavia has led to comparisons with the hottest striker in world football right now.
What’s more, no one has scored more goals in Denmark’s top flight this season than Schjelderup; nine in just 15 games for Nordsjaelland. A more-than-impressive tally for a player who only celebrated his 18th birthday in the summer.
According to reports in Italy, teenager Schjelderup is already a target for Inter Milan, Juventus, Arsenal, Liverpool and a Borussia Dortmund side who handed Haaland his big break in a major European league nearly three years ago.
Schjelderup opted to stay in Norway when Arsenal and Tottenham were casting their eyes over him a couple of years ago. Claims from TV2 that the U21 international has no intention of extending a contract which expires in 2024, however, seems to suggest that Schjelderup is unlikely to rebuff the advances of Europe’s biggest clubs this time around, having outgrown the relatively small pond that is Denmark’s Superligaen.
Is Andreas Schjelderup heading to Arsenal?
“I have been privileged at a young age to have trials at big clubs; in Holland with PSV and England with Liverpool and Tottenham,” he says. “To have that experience at a young age is something I learned a lot from. A big club like that and all the players at a very high level.
“Not like Norway, where you’re the best of your age level.”
Schjelderup eventially swapped Bodo/Glimt for Norsjaelland in 2020; convinced that they could offer him the sort of opportunities that would not be guaranteed elsewhere.
“Of course, in some places there are a lot of talks and a lot of promises,” Schjelderup adds. “At Nordsjaelland, they back it up. They don’t care about the age. If you are 14 and good enough, you’ll play. That is how it is at this club and what is so beautiful about it.”
The likes of Mohammed Kudus (Ajax), Kamaldeen Sulemana (Rennes), and Emre Mor (once of Dortmund and Sevilla) all rose through the ranks at Nordsjaelland. As have Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford), Stanislav Lobotka (Napoli), and Andreas Skov Olsen (Club Brugge).
Schjelderup may become the club’s most expensive ever sale however. He will reportedly cost around £17 million.
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