Manchester City have at last announced the signing of Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund, with the Scandinavian superstar set to join the Premier League side this summer.
It’s a deal that has been long in the making, with City seen as the favourites to sign Haaland based on the superstar striker’s father once being a player and captain for the Manchester side in their early years in the Premier League.
Indeed, Scandinavia has had a huge impact on the Premier League and football as a whole, and here at HITC Sport, we take a look at what we believe is the best XI possible from the Nordic countries to play in the English top-flight.
GK – Peter Schmeichel
There’s really no better place to start with this XI than in goal, with Peter Schmeichel arguably the best Scandinavian to ever play in the Premier League, unless Haaland takes to City like a duck to water in the coming years.
A player who redefined the goalkeeping position during his time with Manchester United, Schmeichel is regarded by many as the greatest to ever play between the sticks in the Premier League, with his son Kasper Schmeichel also an icon in his own right after his accomplishments with Leicester City.
RB – Henning Berg
A member of Blackburn Rovers’ famous Premier League winning side in 1995 as well as Manchester United’s treble-winning squad, Henning Berg is one of Norway’s best success stories in the Premier League.
The versatile defender, who was most notably a right-back during his years in England, became the first player ever to win the new revamped English top-flight with two different clubs, and at 100 caps for Norway, Berg is a certified nation in the Nordic country.
CB – Sami Hyypia
Liverpool have had a long history of incredible centre-backs playing for the club in the Premier League era, and Sami Hyypia always seems to be a player who is often overlooked when pundits and fans take a retrospective look on the topic.
An unknown when he joined the Reds from Dutch side Willem II, Hyypia had an incredible career with Liverpool, winning a cup treble under Gerard Houllier and then the UEFA Champions League with Rafa Benitez, two seasons where the Finnish superstar was a key player.
CB – Olof Mellberg
For the second centre-back spot, Liverpool’s second famous Scandinavian defender, Daniel Agger, could have made the XI, but we’ve instead decided to go for Aston Villa’s very own Viking warrior Olof Mellberg.
Sweden’s all-time appearance holder and a bona fide icon at Villa Park, Mellberg remains one of the most beloved Villa defenders in the Premier League era, with fans loving the defender’s non-nonsense attitude at the back which led him to become captain.
LB – John Arne Riise
Very few players could strike fear into the hearts of players based on how hard they can kick a ball, yet John Arne Riise was exactly that threat during his seven-year spell with Liverpool, with the Norway star a true cult hero of the Premier League.
Known for his thunderous free-kicks, Riise played a huge role in Liverpool’s 2006 FA Cup triumph after scoring in the semi-final against Chelsea and then in the shootout in the final against West Ham, and Norway’s most capped player still remains a fan favourite with Anfield supporters.
CM – Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg
One of two players on this list to still be playing in the Premier League, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg makes this list on the basis that Scandinavian central midfielders have been an oddly rare breed in the history of the division.
That should not take away from Hojbjerg’s abilities, though, with the Danish international a regular in Antonio Conte’s Tottenham side and the midfielder one of the few Spurs signings in recent years that has actually worked out for the north London side.
CM – Thomas Gravesen
We’re now approaching peak Barclays era football, with Thomas Gravesen the second midfielder in our best Scandinavian Premier League XI, with the snarling Danish enforcer impressing so much at Everton he earned a move to Real Madrid.
Whilst that short stint in Spain didn’t work out, the midfielder, affectionally nicknamed ‘Mad Dog’, is fondly remembered by Everton supporters, with Gravesen now reportedly living his best life in Las Vegas after earning millions in some smart investments and success in poker. What a guy.
RM – Freddie Ljungberg
Scandinavians in the Premier League have enjoyed relative success, yet very few can match what Freddie Ljungberg achieved at Arsenal, with the Swedish member a key member of the Gunners Invincibles squad under Arsene Wenger.
Lethal in front of goal and a handy playmaker when needed, Ljungberg was influential as Arsenal won the Premier League unbeaten in 2004, with the Swede becoming a coach at the club in his post-playing years and even becoming caretaker manager following the sacking of Unai Emery.
CAM – Christen Eriksen
Probably the most-loved Scandinavian to play in the Premier League, Christen Eriksen’s return to football this season with Brentford has been one of the stories of the year after the Dane made his comeback with the Bees after suffering a cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.
An icon with Tottenham beforehand and a member of Spurs’ best Premier League side ever, Eriksen is also, arguably, the most technically brilliant Scandinavian to play in the English top-flight, with many excited about what the Brentford star will do next at the end of this season.
LM – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
It’s pretty easy to forget that beyond the criticism, memes and jokes, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was a brilliant Premier League player for Manchester United, with the former attacker still the highest-scoring Scandinavian in the league’s history, unless Haaland blows this record out of the water with City.
Known for his goalscoring abilities off the bench, Solskjaer was influential to United’s dominance under Sir Alex Ferguson, with the striker scoring arguably the club’s most important goal in the treble-winning season against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.
ST – Eidur Gudjohnsen
Scandinavian strikers have blessed the Premier League over the years from Zlatan Ibrahimovic to John Carew to our lord and saviour Nicklas Bendtner, yet for our choice, Icelandic legend Eidur Gudjohnsen leads the line.
One of Chelsea’s first big-money signings, Gudjohnsen was a reliable goalscorer for the Blues as the striker won two Premier League titles with the west London side, with the attacker also going on to play for five English top-flight sides in total in what was a nomadic career for the Viking.
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