Allsvenskan, Football | Lasse (24) is praised by the former Premier League captain: – He is incredible in everything

The top team in the Allsvenskan stands with five victories out of as many possible, after dramatic final seconds in the tough away match against Djurgården. In a match with many Norwegians involved, for better or for worse, spearhead Erik Bothheim decided with the only goal deep into overtime.

Botheim (24), Pontus Jansson (32), Jens Stryger Larsen (33) and Ricardo Friedrich (31) are examples of Malmö players who are well-known names in Scandinavian top football.

You can see everything from the OBOS league, as well as a number of matches from the Eliteserien at Nettavisen on Direktesport.

In addition to being profiles with solid speed in several top leagues, the quartet also have in common that they are new players at Malmö FF during the past year. Another relatively recent Malmö player is the considerably lesser-known Lasse Berg Johnsen (24).

The Stavanger boy has been so important to the success so far in the season, at least if we are to believe some of those who work most closely with the former Raufoss player.

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The captain: – He leads us

– He is incredible in everything. You see for yourself how he is as a player on the pitch, but the way he leads us and is the heart of our team is incredibly cool to see, MFF captain and former Premier League profile Jansson recently told Aftonbladet.

Jansson wore the captain’s armband for Brentford for several years, and returned to Malmö last summer. When the veteran returned to the team he broke through for, the path to a new captaincy was short. Nevertheless, he highlights Berg Johnsen as a leader.

Coach Henrik Rydström explains to the same newspaper that Berg Johnsen is an ambitious type. According to Rydström, the confident midfielder tried to absorb a lot at once after the transfer from Danish Randers midway through last season.

– He wanted so much that it hurt, and we probably pushed him a bit too much. But at the end of the season we got some of that peeled off.

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The MFF coach believes that Berg Johnsen is a type who is very keen on doing things right. As a player, he has given the siddis the nickname “The Road Block”.

At the top of the world

Last autumn, the statistics of the research center CIES Football Observatory highlighted the 24-year-old as one of the most pass-safe players at the highest national level in club football around the world.

At that time, Berg Johnsen was recorded with a hit percentage of 93.5 percent and 81 successful passes on average per game. In his age group (21 to 25 years), he was ranked in the top three.

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Measured by hit percentage, he was number 15 in the world. Only three players, Stanislav Lobotka (Napoli), Harry Winks (Leicester) and Rodri (Manchester City) hit at 95 per cent or more.

Berg Johnsen’s statistics gave a stronger total score than Premier League stars in comparable roles on the pitch, for example Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Chelsea’s world champion Enzo Fernández.

The CIES ranking takes into account the level in the various leagues, and takes into account that some players face more strong opposing teams than others.

Given away by Viking

The contrast is thus great if we turn back the clock around five years. In the 2019 season, Berg Johnsen did not get more than two short appearances in the Eliteserien for Viking. He was loaned to Tromsdalen that summer, and went on to Raufoss for free the following year.

The elite series team from his hometown received no more than educational compensation when they sent him to Vestre Toten.

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There, the central midfielder made his mark so well that Danish side Randers bought him on a free transfer at the start of 2021 for just over a million kroner.

After, among other things, having won cup gold in Denmark, Randers was able to cash in a solid profit in July 2023 when, according to the reports, Malmö paid NOK 15 million for Berg Johnsen.

PS: On Sunday at 14.00, Malmö will host second in the table AIK and coach Henning Berg for the top match. The settlement is shown on Discovery+.

Berg Johnsen and Botheim will probably get central roles for MFF again, while Oliver Berg unfortunately had to be replaced with an injury against Djurgården. AIK players Eskil Edh and Bersant Celina were involved in each goal when the club beat Värnamo 2-0 on Wednesday.