Thursday, January 31, 2008

New Signing #6 - Introduction to Tony Kallio

Hidden away at the bottom of the confirmation of Litmanen's sigining was the news that we've also signed Toni Kallio from Swiss side BSC Young Boys. The official website says "The 29-year-old Finnish international defender has made 15 appearances for his country including some impressive performances in Finland’s recent European qualifying campaign. The versatile defender can play at both centre and left back positions and he played previously for HJK Helsinki and Molde FK".

UPDATE:




OK here's what it says on Wikipedia; "He started out as a winger, but during his time at Norwegian club Molde F.K (51 appearances & 6 goals) was molded into a defender. He is known for his forward runs and good heading, given his tall frame. However, he is also known for making occasional blunders in the national team as he has been forced to play out of his preferred position. He has also played for FC Jazz, TPV Tampere (18 apps, 6 goals) and HJK Helsinki (123 apps, 17 goals) in Finland's Veikkausliiga. He became Norwegian cup champion in 2005. In 2007 he briefly went on trial at Lokomotiv Moscow and played 3 times". He has also made 16 appearances and scored twice for previous Swiss side Young Boys. Clearly just squad material then, but experienced cover for the left back and centre back spots.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

toni kallio-the bone crusher. with him and brede hangeland one of the biggest backlines in the EPL.

Anonymous said...

I honestly don't know much about him, but certainly sounds like he'll add some genuine competition in the left back slot.