The day after it was announced that Aston Villa had made a bid for Danish striker Nicklas Helenius, another Dane is reported ready for the club.

According to the reliable source, Danish newspaper Politiken, the Lions has already agreed the fee for Danish national talent Jores Okore, who is travelling to Birmingham to go through the medical check this week.

The Danish defender was close to signing with Chelsea from FC Nordsjælland, in the winter transfer window, but has now chosen Villa as his next destination. Last year, the FCN defender, won the Danish championship as well as the Danish FA Talent of the Year award.

Since last year, we have kept an eye on one of the Mensah brothers - Jeff Mensah. Today, we include his brother Kevin Mensah in our Keep an eye on archive.

Kevin Niclas Mensah is the oldest of the two brothers, spending his entire career in Viborg FF where he also played during his youth years. Since his breakthrough in Viborg's youth department as well as in the Danish youth national teams, he has been considered as one of the greatest talents in Denmark. In 2005, several SAS-Liga clubs (Superliga today), was interested in the midfielder, but Kevin decided to stay in Viborg.

“At the time, Viborg was playing in the Superliga, so I didn’t feel it would be any different playing for one of the other teams," Mensah says.

The player does nor regret staying in Viborg, despite the club has been playing in the Danish 1. Divison the last couple of years. In fact, he enjoys playing in Viborg:

”Viborg is a great club with a lot of great people around it. We [the players] is getting along well, and within the last couple of years it has become more competitive. The competitive spirit in the squad has improved, which makes it more attractive for other players to join. We know we are getting better; it is a club in development and with ambitions and talent to at some point play in the Superliga.”

In 2007, Mensah's talent was discovered outside Denmarks boundaries as both Arsenal and Newcastle invited him for a trial. He joined Arsenal in Italy where they played a youth tournament against Inter, Vicenza and Cheivo. The team made it to the final, where the Dane played fulltime - unfortunately Arsenal lost 1-0. The experience was positive for Mensah:

"I was playing with some real talented players; one of them was Jack Wilshere, one of the 10th best midfielders in the world today. Of course, it is great to have played with a guy like him, but it is not something I think about in my every day.”

However, it stayed with the trial and Mensah is still to be found in Viborg where coach Ove Christensen is more than happy to have him.  The coach describes Mensah as a technical strong and talent players in his squad. Furthermore, he tells that the talent is one of the fastest in the squad.

Kevin Mensah had his debut in 2009 against Næstved in the Danish 1. Division, but long before that he had been included in the squad for a match against Aalborg in the Superliga. Despite his debut came in the 1. Division, the talent remembers the match with great pleasure:

“I was so proud; suddenly, everyone I know from this city saw me, a young guy on the pitch. As I remember I did well and despite losing the players and the fans welcomed me well,“ he says.

In Viborg Kevin has his younger brother Jeff in whom he finds strong support. According to Kevin, the two Mensah brothers are capable getting them best out of each other as well as seeing each others faults. However, the oldest of the two brother's doesn't hope that they will play together for the rest of their career's.

“I hope not; I hope both of us can take the next step. We are two individuals with separate patches and separate ambitions for our lives. However, it would be great to play together again as we do now, later in out career.”

Coach Ove Christensen is also happy to have the two brothers on his team: “It is a pleasure to have those two guys as Jeff has the same genes as Kevin. Jeff is also a happy and positive guy and has some physical and technical abilities. They are much the same, and both have some tactical things to learn. It is two guys that you can only like, and they are great ambassadors for the club.”

The Superliga club FC Nordsjælland invited Mensah for a trial in 2011, but Mensah returned to Viborg where he is ready to stay. At the moment,  Viborg is in a position to be promoted for the Superliga next season, why Mensah doesn't see any point in changing club. Instead, he would like to fulfill his potential in his current club.

However, he acknowledge that if he had played in a Superliga club he probably would have played more for the Danish youth national teams. However, injuries have also had an impact on the talents career, but he now feels that he has put the injuries behind him. In fact, one of his goals is to play for the Danish national team in the future. Mensah also has another possibility as he has Ghanian blood running through his veins. Unfortunately for Ghana, Mensah laughs and says:

"I've never considered playing Ghana!" 

Shaktar striker Adriano scored a rather controversial goal against Danish FC Nordsjælland. The Brazilian showed no Fair Play, scoring a goal when FCN was given the ball by the opponent after an injury. Great Dane Football Blog here gives a guide with five examples to Shaktar of how Fair Play is to be done:

And finally a legendary situation of Fair Play by Paolo Di Canio

Keep an eye on: Alexander Juel Andersen

               Age: 21 (29-01-1991)  

          Position: Central Defender

              Club: AC Horsens,

                    Danish Superliga 
             Debut: 24-06-2011
                    against
                    FC Nordsjælland
                    (1-1)

International caps: Denmark U20: 1 match(es)
                                 0 goal(s)
                    Denmark U19: 6 match(es)
                                 0 goal(s)
                    Denmark U18: 3 match(es)
                                 0 goal(s)
                    Denmark U17: 16 match(es)
                                  2 goal(s)

The twenty year old defender describes himself as a:

However, Alexander Juel Andersen is aware of his weaknesses, as he wants to be “even better in the offensive play, and maybe get some extra kilos on his body”.

He started playing football in Brunshåb Tapdrup IF as a child before moving on to Viborg Søndermarken IK and later Viborg F.F’s youth department, FK Viborg. Here, he got a two year contract in 2006, aged 15. The footballer’s talent was not to be missed as he went into 2007 with a trial in the French club AS Monaco, and later that year had his debut for Viborg F.F in the Danish Superliga, aged 16. The sixth youngest debutant throughout the history of the Danish Superliga.

Juel Andersen said about his stay in Monaco, that:

However, the defender does not exclude an adventure abroad as “it is something else, when you’re an adult player and a senior player, and have had your breakthrough in your home country.”

In 2007, Alexander Juel Andersen had his debut for the Danish U17 national team in the Internordic match between Denmark and Belgium and was a regular part of the team throughout the tournament. His first goal in the national shirt came against Finland in the Syrenka Cup, same year, when Juel Andersen scored in the first minute of the match.

Alexander Juel Andersen continued his Denmark career on the Danish U18 national team, where he in his second match, was announced as Captain for the team. The year after, aged 19, Andersen also became Captain in Viborg. The modest defender was glad for the experience and said:

After sixty eight matches for Viborg, Juel Andersen, announced that he would continue his career in the Danish Superliga club AC Horsens, on a free transfer. During the last six months of his Viborg contract, the defender was on a loan in Randers FC.

After recovering from his injuries, the new Horsens player announced that he was looking to be a regular part of the team which he, since his debut against FC Nordsjælland in 2011, more or less has been. While the player is aiming to be a profile in the club, he is not expecting to be captain:

“It can be a couple of years before I am going to be a captain in Horsens. There are a lot of experienced players before me.”

The next target for the young talent is to be a part of the Danish U21 national team.

Keep an eye on: Mathias Nielsen

               Age: 21

                    (02-03-1991)

          Position: Center Back

              Club: Viborg FF,

                    Danish

                    Betsafe Liga

                    (on loan from

                    FCN)

             Debut: 05-04-2012

                    against AB

International Caps: Denmark U20:

                    1 Match(es)

                    1 Goal(s)

             Value: £125.000

                  (transfermarkt.co.uk)

 

Mathias Nielsen started playing football in Herfølge Boldklub (Now known as HB Køge) aged four and signed a contract with the youth department in 2007. After being on contract for three years, Nielsen, joined FC Nordsjællands U19 squad in the summer 2010.

Then, coach of FC Nordsjælland, Morten Wieghorst said:

"Mathias is a development player, which we are given the opportunity to take the next step here [FCN]. He has given us the impression of, being a player, who is willing to do what it takes to make it. Mathias has areas [in his play] he needs to work hard on. He will without a doubt has the opportunity to do so, here with us, and there from it is up to himself and his will, how far he wants to reach."

Asked what he thought his strengths and weaknesses were, Mathias Nielsen said:

"My strengths are my heading, and when I have the ball, while me weaknesses could be that I sometime have some problems with defending because I am very impatient. Furthermore, I tend to be a bit rough in my play."

A month after he signed with FC Nordsjælland, Nielsen had his debut in the Europa League match against Sporting Lissabon as a substitute during the second leg. The debut was followed up by a selection for the Danish U20 national team. Mathias Nielsen, here had his debut and, so far only match in the red national shirt, against USA in the NI Milk Cup Semifinal, where Nielsen scored his first goal.

"I want to represent my country, but I am not focusing on that right now, Nielsen said."

FC Nordsjælland was quick to sign a new two year long contract with the defender, when Italian clubs Napoli and Parma were reported interested in Mathias Nielsen. However, Nielsen was not ready to join a club abroad, anyways. The player said:

“I am taking on step at a time, and right now my focus is on Viborg. I would like to play in Holland or Germany or England, no doubt about it. It is three great football countries.”

The defensive football player joined Viborg FF on loan in February 2012 after four appearances in FC Nordsjælland, but is ready to return to the club by the end of this season. The most important for the player right now is to “play some matches and get some routine.”