Reported Rangers target Joseph Okumu is the “best midfielder” in the 97-year history of Sweden’s top flight, Elfsborg director Stefan Andreasson has told Fotboll Direkt.
Now that’s quite a claim.
Not least because Okumu, a 23-year-old Kenya international, has played most of his football at centre-half rather than in central midfield since joining Elfsborg from US-based Real Monarchs in 2019.
Okumu has even been compared to Liverpool colossus Virgil van Dijk because of his superb positional sense and wondrous passing range.
But Andreasson obviously feels Elfsborg’s prize asset is capable of dominating a game from the middle of the park too, insisting no player in almost 100 years of Allsvenskan football is capable of matching Okumu for sheer quality.
“Okumu has been talked about a lot since he came to us. We understood this was a very good player, then he showed maybe the whole of Sweden last year and also Europe,” Andreasson says.
“It is clear Okumu is one of the best. I have said it before, he is the best midfielder that has ever been in the Allsvenskan.”
Andreasson admits Okumu won’t be plying his trade in Scandinavia forever, days after the player himself confessed his desire to leave Elfsborg in next summer’s transfer window.
In March, Aftonbladet reported Steven Gerrard’s Rangers are keen, although the Scottish Premiership champions face a daunting battle with Wolfsburg, Nice and Valencia (Fotbollskanalen).
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