At 14, Tobias Svendsen had to get permission by the Norwegian FA to appear in a third tier game for Molde’s reserve team. Just a year later, he got his debut for the reigning champions in the cup.
The now 15-year-old midfielder is living in the shadow of his 17-year-old brother Sander Svendsen who has established himself in the first team, but Tobias is following not far behind.
QUICK FACTS:
Name: Tobias Svendsen
Date of birth: 31.08.2021 – Age: 15
Position: Midfielder
Club: Molde FK
Key strengths
His low centre of gravity, exquisite first touch, great understanding of the game and quick feet perfectly fits the bill for a modern central midfielder. He is very capable in small spaces, extremely difficult to get the ball off and is considered to be an aggressive midfielder with decent tackling abilities in defensive positions.
Molde manager Tor Ole Skullerud has on multiple occasions praised Tobias but he is keen to point out that they will not rush his development, especially as he is so young and has more physical growth to do.
“He has all the attributes to become a first team regular here at Molde. He is far ahead of his age in every way. It is still impossible to predict how far he will reach. Tobias has great potential but first he must get peace and quiet to develop,” Skullerud said to Norwegian press.
Stats
After Svendsen appeared in the 4-2 win against Rosenborg 2 at the third tier of Norwegian football over a year ago, he got a few appearances during the first team’s pre-season last winter. Then back in April 2015 he was handed his debut for the first team in the first round of the cup, a match Molde in the end won 2-0.
Considered an exceptional talent Svendsen was scouted at the age of 11 by Ajax. In fact, it was the younger of the Svendsen brothers that got the pair on the Dutch club’s radar when he was just 11, which two years later lead to his first of many trips to Amsterdam to train with the club.
For the time being Tobias is only thinking about becoming a better footballer, despite interest from Ajax. Claiming he is ‘too young’ to go professional abroad, Tobias told Norwegian press that it would be difficult to turn down an offer from Ajax ‘in a couple of years’.
“I have been abroad and seen how professional everything is, so yes, it is really tempting. I am too young to do that now, but of course it is a dream. If I receive an offer when I am 17 I would probably accept,” he said.
Written by Lars H. Thomesen
Follow Lars on Twitter @LarsHT
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