The 3 best forward-thinking Swedes to play in the Premier League
To celebrate the arrival of Swedish winger Dejan Kulusevski to Spurs from Italian giants Juventus—a deal that was completed earlier today—let’s take a look at some of the finest attackers from the Scandinavian peninsula in Premier League history.
There’s been a rich tapestry of Swedish footballers to have made their living on English shores. Indeed, as imports go, there’s generally been a consistent level of quality emerging from our friends across the North Sea. For every Thomas Brolin, whose comedy face-plant goal for Leeds was perhaps his crowning moment, there have been at least three dependable performers to address the balance. Think Roland Nilsson and Martin Olsson.
But we’re not interested in run-of-the-mill everyman defenders today, we’re looking for the 3 best Swedish attackers or attacking midfielders to have played in the Premier League.
Let’s begin!
Henrik Larsson
Henrik Larsson’s loan spell to Manchester United only lasted ten short weeks, with the Swede striker playing just seven Premier League games and scoring once—but his visceral impact was undeniable.
Larsson brought with him vast experience; importantly the winning experience that United needed to visit online casino australia and resurrect their stuttering title challenge that was in danger of fizzling out before the former-Barcelona and Celtic man’s winter arrival. United went on to win the 06/07 Premier League by 6 points ahead of Mourinho’s Chelsea.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
A man that needs no introduction—but would probably offer a swift taekwondo roundhouse to the cranium if you didn’t offer one. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is quite easily the most famous—probably the finest—Swedish footballer of all time.
Only former-Milan legend Gunner Nordahl might come close in terms of a true footballing great from the home of ABBA and IKEA, but his goalscoring exploits are best remembered in black and white.
After spells at Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Milan, and Barcelona, the colossal Swede arrived in England with many assuming his powers were on the wane. But the then 36-year-old offered a firm middle finger to his doubters and powered home 17 goals and provided 5 assists in just 33 Premier League appearances. Enough to earn him a PFA POTY nomination. Not too shabby.
Freddie Ljungberg
It’s hard to argue against Freddie Ljungberg being the most successful Swedish import to the Premier League.
The dynamic attacking midfielder won two Premier League winners medals with Arsenal and was an integral feature of the Invincibles side that won the 2003/2004 title. Ljungberg spent eight years at Arsenal, racking up 216 appearances and scoring 46 goals and assisting a further 32. Output.
Along with Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp, Ljungberg was a true cornerstone of Arsenal’s most trophy-rich spell of the modern era between the early-90s and mid-2000s.