Whenever a promising player moves from a small club to a big one in real life, it’s a bittersweet moment for Football Manager fans.
That feeling was even more so when Benfica completed the signing of Andreas Schjelderup from Nordsjaelland, who at the time of his transfer on January 12 was “the most signed player” in FM23.
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But what made him so popular in the game? And how good a player is he in real life?
Starting with the game, David Lind, Football Manager’s researcher for Nordsjaelland, explains what made Schjelderup so popular: “The majority of the FM userbase prefer to sign players with more ‘green attributes’ — as in 16 (out of 20) and above. Schjelderup has nearly all the ideal attributes for a winger that plays on the inside.”
(Before we continue, if you’re wondering who you should sign now that Schjelderup is no longer a go-to bargain, according to Lind, these players have high potential in FM23: Mario Dorgeles, Oscar Schwartau, Filip Bundgaard, and Hugo Larsson.)
The fact that Schjelderup played for a team in the Danish league helped too, as it meant plenty of clubs could sign him for a relatively low fee without much issue.
That availability also applied to the real world, where he was firmly on the radar of some of Europe’s biggest clubs long before the virtual Schjelderup made his name in FM23. A few years ago, Schjelderup had trials with Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Juventus but in 2020, he chose to move to Denmark instead.
For Flemming Pedersen, technical director at Nordsjaelland and the Right to Dream academy, recruiting Schjelderup was a “no-brainer” when they signed him from Bodo/Glimt as a 16-year-old.
Since moving to Benfica — who take on Club Bruges in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie tonight — in January, he has made no first-team appearances, but his track record suggests it won’t be long.
“We thought he’d need 12 months to adapt before we put him in the first team,” says Pedersen of Schjelderup’s time at Nordsjaelland. “Half a year ahead of schedule, he was in the first team in January 2021.”
Based on the early evidence, Football Manager’s prediction of Schjelderup thriving at the highest level will bear fruit. But how do researchers at FM determine how good, bad or otherwise a player will turn out to be?
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“We rate every player individually based on how we see them on the pitch,” says Lind. “How they play, how they move, how they interact with their team-mates and other players, and how they act inside and outside the pitch.
“Determining player potential is very hard, especially at that age, because you don’t know what will happen. Will they get injured? Will they get bored from playing? Will they fail?
“So, you make calculated or miscalculated guesses based on your sightings and games you’ve watched. Just like a normal, real-life football scout, we watch and rate them.”
Video footage of Schjelderup dancing past defenders with ease will likely have factored into how Football Manager decided to rate him. His fearless playing style and dedication bolstered his growing reputation.
“He’s so good at working with himself,” says Pedersen. “He uses a virtual reality headset to warm up his brain with different football situations before training. He is a very, very good friend with his team-mates, but also very quiet and very disciplined.
“We have seen with young English players that they get tempted with material things, girls coming into the picture and all of this kind of stuff. Andreas has no need to show himself. He has so much integrity, he’s never showing himself.”
Using Smarterscout, we can see how he operates in real life. Smarterscout gives players’ games a series of ratings from zero and 99, powered by real data and advanced analytics. These ratings relate to either how often a player performs a given stylistic action (for example, volume of shots per touch), or how effective they are at it (for example, how well they progress the ball upfield) compared with others playing in their position.
The pizza chart below, which is adjusted for Premier League standard, shows that he dribbles a lot (85 out of 99 carry & dribble volume) but still manages to keep possession at an above-average level (66 out of 99 ball retention ability).
He also favours short, simple passes (83 out of 99 link-up play volume) but again, balances that with above-average metrics for creativity (55 out of 99 expected goals from ball progression). However, it shows there is still work to be done when it comes to things like through balls and crossing. A rating of 30 out of 99 for expected goals from shot creation shows that his actions do not always contribute to creating scoring chances.
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“He can make mistakes and grow. In today’s game, most young players don’t get that kind of time at bigger clubs,” says Pedersen of Schjelderup’s move to Benfica. “Other clubs were interested in Andreas, but Benfica was a clever choice — the style of play will suit him.”
Explaining how Nordsjaelland helped develop Schjelderup’s potential, Pedersen says: “We are constructive and critical all the time because, in our experience, that’s how you get better.
“After every game, the players see some pictures where they succeed and then they see a lot of pictures where we think they could’ve done better: ‘Even though you scored a good goal and curled in and the far post, was there a better option there?’.”
Schjelderup has featured for Norway’s national youth teams but is yet to register a senior cap. Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard are the poster boys for Norwegian football, so where does Schjelderup fit in?
“There are some similarities between Odegaard and Andreas,” says Pedersen. “He can at the very least reach the same level as Odegaard.”
The list of players who were earmarked to have high potential in Football Manager who ultimately didn’t live up to those lofty expectations is an extremely long one.
So there is still no certainty about how good Schjelderup can be if he reaches his full potential in real life.
According to Pedersen, however, he could reach the highest of heights: “He will definitely play for a Champions League team and hopefully also be a part of the team that wins that trophy too.”
(Other contributor: Mark Carey)
(Top photo: Lars Ronbog/FrontZoneSport via Getty Images)
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