Erik Botheim admits that Arsenal tried to take him to the Premier League before the Norway U21 international exploded onto the scene at Bodo/Glimt, speaking to Sport24.
After winning the Danish league title for the first time in their history in 2020, it didn’t take long before the vultures starting picking Bodo’s bones.
Soon enough, every member of the club’s much-vaunted front three – Kasper Junker, Philip Zinckernagel and Jens Pette Hauge – were packing their bags and heading for the exit.
But the fact that Bodo/Glimt bounced back from that and won the league again 12 months later has much to do with a man who counts Erling Haaland as a childhood friend and seems to share a knack for rapid-fire goalscoring with the Borussia Dortmund superstar.
Botheim scored 15 times as Bodo/Glimt defended their crown.
And, a few months ago, he produced a performance that even Haaland himself would have been proud of. Few players in footballing history have managed to score twice and set up three more in the same game against a Jose Mourinho team.
As Bodo/Glimt smashed six past Roma, however, Botheim went some way to establishing himself in the wider footballing consciousness.
Can he emulate Haaland?
“Many clubs were interested in me,” explains Botheim, who has completed a £4.5 million move to Russian outfit FC Krasnodar.
“I will not name them but there was interest. That’s a fact. Krasnodar seemed, to me, the most curious option.”
If things had worked out differently, however, the 22-year-old might now be plying his trade in England instead. Or, perhaps, alongside Haaland in yellow-and-black.
When will Erik Botheim move to the Premier League?
“When I was a teenager, I went to see Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United and Barcelona,” adds Botheim, who likens his style to that of Roberto Firmino and Robert Lewandowski
“It was a cool experience. The first thing that caught my eye was the level of the players. Only now I understand how important it was to go there at that age. It helped me become better and more independent.
“I was still a child then, a teenager. I was not eligible for a professional contract.”
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