FC Nordsjælland’s chairman revealed this week that Man Utd scouts are often in attendance for games.
Not many football fans will have heard of him but FC Nordsjælland attacker Kamaldeen Sulemana’s name cropped up this week, as the Danish club’s chairman Jan Laursen talked up Manchester United’s interest in the teenager.
Laursen said: “It’s been in the papers, and they [United] are one of those clubs that’s here sometimes, too. It’s probably one of those clubs that also follows him closely.”
The links between the Sulemana and United started earlier this week after the player himself claimed the Reds and German side Bayer Leverkusen had been in contact with his agent.
We already know that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is keen to bolster his attacking options at the end of the season and Sulemana is a player that ticks many of the boxes in terms of what he would be looking for.
Despite still being a teenager, the 19-year-old has had a good campaign in the Danish Superliga, scoring ten goals and registering a further three assists.
That goal tally breaks down to an impressive 0.38 goals per 90, a number almost identical to his xG average of 0.39. This highlights a player who will provide goals if he is given chances.
The Ghanaian international is predominantly right-footed, therefore he’ll regularly play on the left of his side’s attack as this naturally opens up more opportunities for him to cut inside onto his favoured foot in order to get shots off on goal, similar to how Marcus Rashford plays when he’s on the left.
Yet, what’s clear when you watch the player is that he also exhibits comfort in using his weaker left foot when required to do so, taking on shots and threading passes into the feet of teammates. This is one of the reasons why he operates more than adequately in a centre-forward role too.
When it comes to getting shots away, Sulemana is busy, hitting an average of 3.06 per 90 so far this season. For comparison, only Bruno Fernandes can better that in the Premier League for United with an average of 3.15 per 90.
It’s not just his goal threat that causes headaches for opposition defences though, but also his dribbling skill.
He stands at 5ft9in which isn’t the tallest, but having a relatively low centre of gravity helps him in attacking duels, as does his electrifying pace. This season, he’s averaged a high 11.71 dribbles per 90 with a success rate of just under 50 per cent.
That high average would rank him amongst the top five dribbles across Europe’s top five leagues if he had been playing in one of those respective divisions this season.
Any United interest or potential move would of course carry the usual caveat in that’s there’s no assurance in how the player’s skillset would translate to a tougher league, yet these questions can only usually be answered after a move has happened.
However, the impact he’s had this season at such a young age does indicate that his ceiling is high.
Therefore with United set to sign at least one new forward in the summer, you can understand why Sulemana is one of the players on the shortlist.
