Across Europe, there are dozens of leagues that are famous for their development of young players. Portugal is one of the best, with Porto, Sporting, and Benfica selling top prospects for high costs every year. The Netherlands are as well, thanks mainly to Ajax and PSV. In Belgium, it’s Club Brugge, Genk, and Anderlecht. In Austria, it’s RB Salzburg. The list goes on and on.
However, there’s one league that doesn’t get the credit it deserves: the Danish Superligaen. The reason? It doesn’t have one elite producer – all the teams can and do produce elite talents.
Nordsjaelland are probably the most well-known talent producers in Denmark thanks to their extensive scouting and homegrown policies. The likes of Kamaldeen Sulemana, Stanislav Lobotka, and Mohammed Kudus have all played for the club in recent years. Copenhagen are another club which does this: Jonas Wind, Andreas Cornelius, Daniel Amartey, and more were developed in Denmark’s capital. Brondby, too: Eintracht’s Jesper Lindstrom and MLS stars Mikael Uhre and Hany Mukhtar joined the club at relatively young ages.
Yet even in an underrated league, there’s another underrated talent developer — FC Midtjylland. Rasmus Kristensen, Simon Kjaer, Paul Onuachu, Alexander Sorloth, and more: so many talents have started their careers with the club (or joined at a young age). Right now they have another incredible prospect at the club — Valdemar Andreasen.
CAM Valdemar Andreasen, 17, Midtjylland
Andreasen is a product of FC Midtjylland’s academy, and was promoted to the club’s U19 team last season. In 22 games in the Danish U19 League, Andreasen racked up an impressive seven goals and nine assists, including braces against Aarhus and Vejle. He also impressed in the UEFA Youth League, scoring a goal against Club Brugge and assisting two goals.
In the offseason, Andreasen appeared for Denmark in the U17 Euros. Despite playing more than 45 minutes just once during the tournament, Andreasen registered an assist (technically it was an own goal, but his free kick caused the danger) as Denmark reached the Quarter-finals.
This season, Andreasen has taken his game to a completely different level. In the first game of U19 season, he scored once and assisted the other goal as Midtjylland won 2-1. The next match, Andreasen scored; one match later he found the back of the net twice and assisted once. Within his first six league matches, Andreasen had scored five times and assisted six more — almost two goal contributions a match.
During that time, Andreasen also made his senior team debut, appearing as a substitute in Midtjylland’s stunning 5-1 win over Lazio. This appearance made him the eleventh youngest debutant in the club’s history, and the sixth youngest player to appear for the club since 2010. He has since made two more appearances for the club’s senior team, including assisting two goals in Midtjylland’s 6-0 Sydbank Pokalen victory against FA 2000.
Andreasen is a versatile forward, able to play on the wings or in the center of the field. A speedy player, Andreasen is great with the ball at his feet but sometimes holds on to it for longer than he needs to. Positionally, the Dane excels at finding available space and his finishing makes him a threat in the final third. His passing additionally makes him even more of a threat, putting the ball in dangerous positions which result in many assists.
Andreasen is one of Midtjylland’s top prospects, and recently inked a contract until 2025. Still, it won’t be easy to fend off interest, and eventually there will be elite clubs clamoring for his signature. For Andreasen, this is a big season — he’s already made his senior debut and is breaking into the side. Soon, he may join the ever-growing list of Danish talents to be sold abroad.
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Image Courtesy of T-Stone, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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