Patience is a virtue? There I go moaning a few hours back that we'd not signed someone and lo by tea time we have. I had a sneaky suspicion that considering the prices being banded around we might be back in for Nevland, I just wasn't expecting it quite so soon. I'm trying not raise my expectations based on the new signings we've made. Past experience has shown we won't know how good they are until we've seen them play a few games, but, it certainly makes me feel more positive now we've got some reinforcements.
Erik Nevland began his career at Viking FK in Norway but was sold to Manchester United when he was only 19. During his time at United he was unable to establish himself in the first team making only 6 appearances in two years, but he did manage to score against Bury in the Worthington Cup. After a couple of loan spells he was sold back to Viking FK making over 150 appearances and scoring some 80 goals. In 2004 he moved to Dutch side F.C. Groningen for whom he has become something of a cult hero. According to Wikipedia he scored 16 times in 20 matches during his first half-season and also scored the first ever goal in their new Euroborg stadium. In December 2007, Nevland was voted 'Groninger of the Year' by television viewers in the province. He was captain and made 116 appearances and scoring 53 goals. Nevland has to date only made 2 appearances for the Norwegian national side.
2 comments:
The thing that stood out like a sore thumb to me when I first read about Nevland several days ago, was what you stated in that he has only made two appearances for Norway. That's really not a very good sign. There are plenty of good footballers in Norway, but it's not a powerhouse of football by any means and not the biggest country either. Yet he has only made two appearances? That just doesn't bode very well by me.
Agreed BQ. Obviously Solskjear and John Carew have been major players for Norway throughout that time but you'd still expect a top player to have featured more often. However it looks like Nevland's call up was only last year so maybe he's a late developer.
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