Lucas Bergvall delivers magic moment to show he is perfect for Postecoglou

Lucas Bergvall was in action in Sweden’s Allsvenskan on Thursday night and football.london were in attendance to watch the soon-to-be Tottenham midfielder.

The 18-year-old will join Spurs on July 1 after the north London club saw off competition from Barcelona to sign the gifted Swede in an £8.5million deal from Swedish side Djurgarden. Bergvall will arrive this summer to report for pre-season training under Ange Postecoglou as one of the brightest talents to have emerged from Scandinavia in recent years.

football.london went to the western suburbs of Stockholm to watch Bergvall in action on Thursday evening as Djurgarden travelled to Brommapojkarna. Bergvall has played for both sides in his short career so far, having spent his formative years coming through the celebrated academy of Brommapojkarna, which also helped produce Spurs star Dejan Kulusevski and Amanda Nilden, who has been on loan at Tottenham Hotspur Women this season from Juventus, among others.

Our Tottenham reporter Alasdair Gold watched the match in Stockholm as Djurgarden ran out 5-0 winners and kept a close eye on Bergvall throughout the game. Here’s his scouting report and his verdict on the player at the end.

0-15 minutes

2 – Bergvall showed some lovely close control to weave between a couple of players and then keep the ball under pressure.

9 – Showed good strength first to clear the ball in his own box and then soon after he used his body to win it back off a Brommapojkarna attacker before flicking it back smartly to his centre-back.

14 – Calm again when a pass on the edge of his own box put him under pressure but the teenager had read the situation and headed the ball back over an attacker to his own defender.

15 – Plenty of touches of the ball and Bergvall is comfortable playing as the most advanced of the midfield trio, dropping back into the number six role or heading out into the wide areas on either side of the pitch.

hosts’ box which flies just over the crossbar.

24 – Bergvall tried too much in one move, dribbling into a cluster of Brommapojkarna players on the edge of the home box. In the next move though he made sure he kept it tidy and played the ball out to his own winger.

31-45 minutes

33 – The 18-year-old picked up the ball on the right, just outside the Brommapojkarna box and hit a firm pass across the pitch into a team-mate which after a clever chip into the box results in a chance for the visitors.

45 – A lovely early goal from Tobias Gulliksen separates the two sides at the break. Bergvall has been tidy and finding pockets of space, reading the game well without carrying too much threat yet other than a few efforts from distance. He’s been very disciplined in his play, choosing his breaks forward carefully to ensure the midfield remains secure.

45-60 minutes

49 – A strong block from Bergvall on the left-hand side high up the pitch sets up Djurgarden for a potential chance that is wasted.

51 – The teenager is definitely being pushed higher up the pitch in this half so far after a more defensively-minded first half.

53 – Beautiful moment from Bergvall. He dribbles down the left, plays a one-two with a team-mate before executing an exquisite backheel across the box into the path of a team-mate, who tees it up for Hummet to score with a rocket off the bar.

57 – Bergvall is on fire in a more advanced role in the second half! Now he bags a clever assist as he spots the run of Hummet and slide the ball perfectly into his path to make it 3-0.

61-65 minutes

62 – Bergvall showed some lovely feet to get away from one player and then another before passing the ball out of play ahead of a team-mate.

63 – Ran on to a ball over the top but was outmuscled by the defender and lost out in the 50-50 tackle for the loose ball.

64 – A busy few minutes for the midfielder as he executed a well-made sliding tackle on the opposite side of the pitch.

65 – Despite a strong display, the teenager was taken off on 65 minutes perhaps with the fact that he’d played 90 minutes just four days before and will likely be starting again on Monday night in a home game against Halmstad.

Verdict

There’s definitely something about Lucas Bergvall. If you were asked to point out the 18-year-old on the pitch, you would probably not motion towards the striking midfielder with the bright blond hair.

That’s because much of his play is that of a seemingly older player. He reads the game well and very rarely lost the ball during the encounter. Though in context it should be pointed out that Djurgarden were the strong favourites for this game and now sit second in the Allsvenskan table. They provided 4,000 away fans for the 4,500 sell-out league game.

There was still plenty on offer from Bergvall though to showcase the different sides to the game he will bring to Tottenham Hotspur when he arrives this summer.

The first half was one of showing that maturity, being tidy in possession and finding pockets of space, reading the game well without carrying too much threat himself other than a few efforts from distance. The teenager chose his breaks forward carefully to ensure the midfield remained secure.

His flexibility will be something that Postecoglou will certainly like as he wants people to get away from categorising players as a six or eight in the midfield and Bergvall certainly shrugs off those constraints. During this game at times he was playing in the six, eight and 10 roles – drifting right and left – with relative interchangeable ease.

After half-time, Bergvall was pushed into a more advanced role and that was when you really got to see the attacking brain of the teenager.

Within four minutes, he struck twice with moments of individual brilliance that tore open the Brommapojkarna team.

First he dribbled down the left, played a one-two with a team-mate before executing an exquisite backheel across the box into the path of that same team-mate, who teed it up for Deniz Hummet to score with a rocket off the bar.

In case a pre-assist, or ice hockey assist as they call it in Sweden, was not enough, Bergvall then recorded his fifth assist of the season – he’s also scored four times in his 16 appearances – with a clever, slick pass as he spotted the run of Hummet through the middle and he slid it perfectly into the attacker’s path. Hummet would later complete his hat-trick from the spot.