Name: Mads Hvilsom
               Age: 19 (23.11.92)
              Club: FC Midtjylland
          Position: Striker
International Caps: Denmark U20:  3 match(es)
                                  0 goal(s)
                    Denmark U19: 10 match(es)
                                  4 goal(s)
                    Denmark U18: 11 match(es)
                                  4 goal(s)
                    Denmark U17: 17 match(es)
                                  8 goal(s)
                    Denmark U16:  4 match(es)
                                  4 goal(s)
             Value: £275.000 (Transfermarkt.co.uk)

This week’s talent is a lean mean goal machine! The name is Mads Hvilsom and he has, throughout his youth years been a guarantor for goals.

At the age of fourteen, Mads Hvilsom joined the FC Midtjylland academy in 2006. Before he signed with the club, he had been on a trial in Norwich where his friend Dario Dumic, played. However, after some consideration Midtjylland became the next location for the boy from Hvidovre.
When Hvilsom joined FC Midtjylland, he was seen as one of the greatest Danish talents, by the Academy’s director. However, Hvilsom keeps his feet on the ground:

“It meant I had a pressure on me from the start, but a pressure that very football player has to deal with. Everybody dreams of being the best and it might not have the gone the way as it looked like from the start. However, I am trying to keep developing.”

Mads Hvilsom quickly became an important part of the youth teams in FCM, where he teared up on defends after another. Not only at club level, but also for Danish international youth teams, where he has played regular since he was sixteen. After scoring fifteen goals in eleven matches for the FCM U17 team, he was promoted to the Superliga squad for the match against AC Horsens. Here, Hvilsom had his debut as he got the last couple of minutes on the pitch and became the youngest debutant in the league [second youngest today]. However, the early debut might not have been good for the player. FC Midtjylland coach Glen Riddersholm said:

“Perhaps he had the debut a little too early at the age of sixteen. When he had the debut, the former coach should have given him a few more matches to take some of the pressure of Mads.”

Mads Hvilsom himself agrees with his coach:

“It was a great experience, but I am not sure it was the right decision to let me play. I was only sixteen, and as I look back, I would have done something different.”

The young striker ended the season on the U17-team, winning the national championship and the topscorer price. Hvilsom scored not less than twenty five goals in 22 matches!

Last year, Hvilsom was on loan in Viborg FF where he scored a hattrick in his first match. After returning to FCM he won the Danish Reserves league with the club, before going on a trial with Sogndal in Norway. However, playing in a foreign country is not a must for the striker:

“It is not a goal for me to play in the Premier League, I would be happy just to become topscorer in the Danish Superliga. Off course I dream of playing in a great league, but it is not as I am longing for it.”

The talented striker turned down the offer from Sogndal, and instead he went on a loan with the Danish 1. Division club Hobro. Unfortunately, Hvilsom became injured in his first match with a Cruciate ligament injury, that will keep him out for the rest of the year. However, both his coach in Midtjylland, and Hvilsom himself belives that he will come back. Riddersholm said:

“It gives him the possibility to reflect on how much he likes to play football, and at the same time he can strengthen his mentality and tactics. Given Mads’ character, I am sure he will come back with new strength.”